Last updated: 3:05 PM ET, Fri July 26, 2024
Jamaica is welcoming new fall airlift as the destination continues
to post strong 2024 visitor arrivals. Low-cost Houston-based carrier Avelo
Airlines will launch direct flights between Connecticut’s Bradley International
Airport (BDL) and Montego Bay’s Sangster International Airport (MBJ) beginning
November 16, said Jamaica Ministry of Tourism officials.
Avelo’s twice weekly non-stop departures flights will
operate on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Residents of Hartford, Connecticut and
surrounding communities represent “a major market for visitors to Jamaica,”
said Edmund Bartlett, Jamaica’s tourism minister.
“Additionally, these regions have a high concentration of
Jamaica's diaspora, making this new service a vital link for families and
friends,” said Bartlett in a statement.
Avelo officials earlier this year announced expanded service from Bradley International Airport to seven
new destinations, including its first-ever international routes and flights to
Cancun, Mexico, beginning November 20.
Jamaica’s tourism sector
has continued its strong performance in the days following Hurricane Beryl’s
passage in early July, said Bartlett in a late-month parliamentary address. Jamaica
hosted 105,000 overnight, land-based visitors fewer than two weeks after
reopening its ports in Beryl’s aftermath.
“On July 2 and 3 we had no
visitors arriving in Jamaica,” Bartlett said. “However, on the Fourth of July
we started receiving visitors again and in just 11 days we have brought in
105,000 stopover visitors,” he said. “This is what resilience looks like.”
Travelers visiting the
island for the recently completed Reggae Sumfest music festival contributed to
the strong arrivals,” Bartlett added. To date in 2024 Jamaica has hosted 2.96
million overnight, land-based visitors, a “record breaking” total representing
a 9.4 increase over 2022/2023, he said.
Jamaica’s visitor increases
extend to the high seas, where a “significant resurgence” in first-half shipboard
arrivals to nearly 800,000 passengers has generated a 16 percent year-over-year
cruise tourism increase.
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