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Winter tourist figures good
Edmund Bartlett, Tourism Minister.
There has been an increase of 9.4% in tourist arrivals so far this year when compared with the figures last year.
This is according to Tourism Minister, Edmund Bartlett who says this represents the first time that more than one million visitors have travelled to the island in a three month period.
On Tuesday, Mr. Bartlett said the figures reflect some US$766 million in earnings – a 7.4% improvement over last year's earnings.
According to the Tourism Minister, this means that Jamaica is likely to outperform its targets for the year.
"This means that we are on track to surpass the two million stop over arrivals we had projected and in line to (see) 3.4 or possibly 3.5 million in stop over and cruise ship arrivals and earning well in excess of the illusive US$2 billion in foreign exchange," Mr. Bartlett said.
A break down of the figures quoted by Mr. Bartlett show a little over 670,000 stop over arrivals and almost 380,000 cruise ship passengers entering Jamaican sores in this quarter.
According to the Ministry's figures, the stop over visitors spent US$735 million while the cruise ship passengers spent U$31.4 million.
Agriculture & manufacturing sectors must tap into tourism wealth
And, Mr. Bartlett said the agriculture and manufacturing sector must play a part in order for the country to tap into these tourist dollars even more.
He said there is a great demand for local goods in the hotels and at the country's many tourist attractions.
"Tourism has a catalytic role as it creates these demands that have to be filled by various other sectors in the economy and two of the most important sectors that have to trap this wealth are agriculture and manufacturing. Agriculture for us represents about 60% of that demand and our capability to supply that demand, is therefore central to our ability to retain the wealth," Mr. Bartlett said.
He added that plans are being made by his Ministry to offer loans to small producers of organic foods so that these can be supplied to resorts on the country.
Edmund Bartlett, Tourism Minister. There has been an increase of 9.4% in tourist arrivals so far this year when compared with the figures last year.
This is according to Tourism Minister, Edmund Bartlett who says this represents the first time that more than one million visitors have travelled to the island in a three month period.
On Tuesday, Mr. Bartlett said the figures reflect some US$766 million in earnings – a 7.4% improvement over last year's earnings.
According to the Tourism Minister, this means that Jamaica is likely to outperform its targets for the year.
"This means that we are on track to surpass the two million stop over arrivals we had projected and in line to (see) 3.4 or possibly 3.5 million in stop over and cruise ship arrivals and earning well in excess of the illusive US$2 billion in foreign exchange," Mr. Bartlett said.
A break down of the figures quoted by Mr. Bartlett show a little over 670,000 stop over arrivals and almost 380,000 cruise ship passengers entering Jamaican sores in this quarter.
According to the Ministry's figures, the stop over visitors spent US$735 million while the cruise ship passengers spent U$31.4 million.
Agriculture & manufacturing sectors must tap into tourism wealth
And, Mr. Bartlett said the agriculture and manufacturing sector must play a part in order for the country to tap into these tourist dollars even more.
He said there is a great demand for local goods in the hotels and at the country's many tourist attractions.
"Tourism has a catalytic role as it creates these demands that have to be filled by various other sectors in the economy and two of the most important sectors that have to trap this wealth are agriculture and manufacturing. Agriculture for us represents about 60% of that demand and our capability to supply that demand, is therefore central to our ability to retain the wealth," Mr. Bartlett said.
He added that plans are being made by his Ministry to offer loans to small producers of organic foods so that these can be supplied to resorts on the country.