Westmoreland, Jamaica – After welcoming some 4.27 million total visitors and securing earnings of approximately US$4.35 billion in 2024, Minister of Tourism, Hon Edmund Bartlett is confident that Jamaica is on track to achieving its growth targets of attracting 5 million visitors and generating earnings of US$5 billion for the nation’s economy by 2025.
Hon Edmund Bartlett (file photo)
“The 2024 end-of-year figures represent increases of 5.3% in visitor arrivals and 3.3% in earnings when compared to 2023 and were achieved despite challenges, including travel advisories, severe weather events and airlift restrictions over two quarters,” Minister Bartlett said.
The 5x5x5 targets were previously set in 2016 and were on the verge of being achieved when the COVID-19 pandemic literally wiped-out global travel, forcing Jamaica and other tourist destinations to start all over from ground zero in rebuilding the industry.
Sandals Resorts International’s 2025 Global Sales Meeting
Yesterday, on January 9, Minister Bartlett spoke at the Sandals South Coast resort. He was at Sandals Resorts International’s 2025 Global Sales Meeting. Bartlett highlighted how important tourism is to Jamaica and the Caribbean. He praised Sandals for being a key player in the growth of the industry in the region.
Mr. Edmund Bartlett called Sandals a great home-grown multi-national company. He told Adam Stewart, the executive chairman, that Sandals should grow beyond the Caribbean. It is time for Sandals to become a global brand.
“We need to go beyond the Caribbean now because the world is waiting for what you have given to the Caribbean, making it the most tourism-dependent region on planet Earth,” he suggested.
More than 50% of the Caribbean region’s gross domestic product (GDP) is predicated on tourism and one-in-four of all the workers are employed in the industry and, except for oil in Guyana, “tourism again stands out as the huge driver of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the region,” he pointed out. Similarly, locally, “when tourism grows, the economy grows; when tourism contracts, unfortunately the economy also contracts,” he noted.
Having achieved “more in 24,” Minister Bartlett hailed the global Sandals sales force as dedicated professionals united by the purpose of strengthening and growing “the incredible Sandals brand that has become synonymous with Caribbean hospitality.” Underscoring that “Sandals is an integral part of our national identity,” he challenged them “to thrive for 25”.
Ascribing several attributes to Sandals, including its contribution to the Jamaica workforce and supporting farmers and other industries, Minister Bartlett affirmed that “this is what responsible tourism looks like, where success is measured not just in occupancy rates alone but by investing, and people are at the heart of the tourism industry.”
In that regard, he assured that notwithstanding the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning and the wonderful things technology can do to change the way things are, “they are going to change it for people, and it is human intelligence that will give efficacy to the changes.” Mr. Bartlett argued that “the type of industry that will survive, whatever transition the world embraces, going forward, is going to be about people and tourism as the industry that is most related to people, will survive.”
