Jamaica Earned US $1.3 Billion from Tourism in first Six Months of 2016
KINGSTON, Jamaica – Recently released figures by the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) indicate that 2.084 million visitors came to the island during the first half of 2016 giving Jamaica earnings of US$1.3 billion.
Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism Hon. Edmund Bartlett says Jamaica is firmly on the path to welcoming four million visitors for 2016.
For the first half of 2016, total arrivals of 2,084,963 were noted, an increase of 7.5%, with 1,135,080 stopovers up 2.5% and 949,883 cruise passenger arrivals up 14.2%.
During a special Linkages Network Strategy Session at the Jamaica Pegasus today (August 10) Minister Bartlett pointed out that the highest number of visitors for any July in Jamaica’s history was also recorded this year, amounting to 211,000.
“The preliminary numbers for July exclude Jamaican Nationals and members of the Diaspora. This is a 4% increase over last year and when the Diaspora is added it will perhaps equal June’s 6%,” said Minister Bartlett.
The United States of America and the United Kingdom remain Jamaica’s strongest markets, with arrival figures of 147,053 and 15,782 respectively for June 2016.
“Tourism is the fastest growing economic activity in the world. Last year tourism earned $1.3 trillion and 1.2 billion people travelled across the globe. Here in the Caribbean 28 million people visited and we earned US$30 billion. At home in Jamaica, 3.7 million people visited and we earned US$2.5 billion,” said the Minister.
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