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Olympics diverted tourists - BOJPublished: Sunday | November 18, 2012 0 Comments
Summer Olympics actually hurt tourist arrivals, according to the Bank of Jamaica's third-quarter assessment. Potential travellers, including non-resident Jamaicas, chose to bask in the euphoria of London instead of Jamaican vacations.
"Growth in visitor arrivals was adversely affected by the staging of the London Olympics, which partially diverted vacation plans from the Caribbean as well as flight disruptions to Jamaica due to the passage of Tropical Storm/Hurricane Isaac on South Florida and Louisiana," stated the BOJ's Quarterly Monetary Policy Report for the July-September period.
The sector actually recorded a slight rise in arrivals and expenditure, but it trailed earlier 2012 trend data, according to the BOJ, which publishes preliminary statistics on the sector prior to the release of Jamaica Tourist Board(JTB) data.
The September 2012 quarter recorded growth in the hotels sector - 1.9 per cent in total stopover arrivals, and 2.7 per cent in visitor expenditure - over the comparable 2011 period.
"For the review quarter, growth in Hotels & Restaurants is estimated to have continued, albeit marginally weaker than the quarterly average growth of 2.2 per cent for the first half of 2012," stated the report on the tame results.
"The performance of tourism was mainly attributed to increased airlifts associated with the Wholesale Tour Operators and Jamaica Product Exchange conferences," BOJ said.
September quarterly travel data outlining UK travel numbers to Jamaica are yet to be released by the UK National Statistics office.
The UK market accounts for the third-largest grouping of visitors to Jamaica, receiving some 173,500 stopover arrivals in 2011, which was 5.9 per cent lower than 2010.
worrying economy
"This is the lowest level of visitors from the UK since 2005," said the Jamaica Tourist Board's latest annual report regarding the ensuing economic stagnation in Europe.
The effect of a worrying economy also reduced US visitors to Jamaica, said the JTB report; however, earnings from tourism, including cruise and stopover visitors, were flat year on year at US$2 billion in 2011. Stopover, or hotel visitors, earned the bulk of that amount with total expenditure of foreign nationals at US$1.8 billion.
Stayover, or hotel visitors, hit a record 1.97 million persons last year with average spend up two cents to US$115.74, representing a recovery from pre-crisis levels, according to the JTB.
steven.jackson@gleanerjm.com
Summer Olympics actually hurt tourist arrivals, according to the Bank of Jamaica's third-quarter assessment. Potential travellers, including non-resident Jamaicas, chose to bask in the euphoria of London instead of Jamaican vacations.
"Growth in visitor arrivals was adversely affected by the staging of the London Olympics, which partially diverted vacation plans from the Caribbean as well as flight disruptions to Jamaica due to the passage of Tropical Storm/Hurricane Isaac on South Florida and Louisiana," stated the BOJ's Quarterly Monetary Policy Report for the July-September period.
The sector actually recorded a slight rise in arrivals and expenditure, but it trailed earlier 2012 trend data, according to the BOJ, which publishes preliminary statistics on the sector prior to the release of Jamaica Tourist Board(JTB) data.
The September 2012 quarter recorded growth in the hotels sector - 1.9 per cent in total stopover arrivals, and 2.7 per cent in visitor expenditure - over the comparable 2011 period.
"For the review quarter, growth in Hotels & Restaurants is estimated to have continued, albeit marginally weaker than the quarterly average growth of 2.2 per cent for the first half of 2012," stated the report on the tame results.
"The performance of tourism was mainly attributed to increased airlifts associated with the Wholesale Tour Operators and Jamaica Product Exchange conferences," BOJ said.
September quarterly travel data outlining UK travel numbers to Jamaica are yet to be released by the UK National Statistics office.
The UK market accounts for the third-largest grouping of visitors to Jamaica, receiving some 173,500 stopover arrivals in 2011, which was 5.9 per cent lower than 2010.
worrying economy
"This is the lowest level of visitors from the UK since 2005," said the Jamaica Tourist Board's latest annual report regarding the ensuing economic stagnation in Europe.
The effect of a worrying economy also reduced US visitors to Jamaica, said the JTB report; however, earnings from tourism, including cruise and stopover visitors, were flat year on year at US$2 billion in 2011. Stopover, or hotel visitors, earned the bulk of that amount with total expenditure of foreign nationals at US$1.8 billion.
Stayover, or hotel visitors, hit a record 1.97 million persons last year with average spend up two cents to US$115.74, representing a recovery from pre-crisis levels, according to the JTB.
steven.jackson@gleanerjm.com
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