Jamaica welcomes over 1.5 million visitors up May

Jamaica has seen a robust recovery in its tourism sector, welcoming just over 1.5 million visitors by May 2026. This figure includes 1 million stopover arrivals and 664,000 cruise passengers, according to the Ministry of Tourism. Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett highlighted the sector's resilience, noting that these numbers were achieved despite only 70% of tourism inventory being available after Hurricane Melissa. Bartlett emphasized the swift response by the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) to recalibrate its marketing and advertising strategies across key source markets, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe, and Latin America. The minister described this as "the new discipline of tourism recovery," focusing on early action, maintaining confidence, protecting market share, and positioning the destination for renewed growth. The strength of "Brand Jamaica" is further evidenced by airlift data, which showed 3.1 million passenger arrivals in 2025 with an 80.6% load factor, indicating that airlines were flying full despite capacity constraints. The hotel sector is also on a strong rebound path, with capacity expected to reach over 80% by summer and 95% by December 2026. Full restoration of hotel inventory is anticipated by the first quarter of 2027, with approximately 80,000 hotel workers having returned to their jobs. In 2025, Jamaica hosted 3.7 million visitors, generating an estimated US$4 billion in foreign exchange earnings.

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We went back into the market with urgency and purpose, reigniting destination marketing and advertising across all major source markets – the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe, and Latin America. Working with major integrated booking partners, we acted to stimulate demand, protect market share, reassure the travel trade, and convert confidence in Jamaica into bookings.