KINGSTON, May 1 (JIS):
Jamaica’s visitor arrivals have not been negatively affected by travel advisories, says Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett.
Addressing Wednesday’s (May 1) post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House, he said travel advisories are the “purview” of Jamaica’s international partners.
“In evaluating what they regard as the state of our three Ss – safety, security and seamlessness – they do gradings. It is our job to ensure that at all times when the grades are done, that we are at the highest level of their evaluation,” Mr. Bartlett said.
He further shared that Jamaica is working feverishly at removing those elements that are considered to foster a negative evaluation.
“We are working also with our diplomatic partners to enable a better understanding of the Jamaican situation, and also we are relying heavily now on Jamaica’s history of strong, safe and secure experiences,” Mr. Bartlett said.
He pointed out that Jamaica has a 42 per cent repeat business, which is the highest in the region and the incidents that occur are limited in relation to the visitor population.
Stopover arrivals for the 2023/24 fiscal year are estimated at 2.96 million, reflecting a 9.4 per cent increase, while cruise arrivals are estimated at 1.34 million, up by nine per cent from the previous period in 2022/23.
“I’m happy that the market does not share the views of much of the advisories that come to us; that’s why we’re able to give you the numbers that we gave,” the Minister said.
CONTACT: JUDANA MURPHY
