Jamaica Posted Highest-Ever Tourist Arrival Numbers in 2011

 

Visitor arrivals in Jamaica totaled 3.07 million in 2011, an 8.4 percent increase over 2010 figures and an all-time record for the Caribbean nation, according to the December 2011 Monthly Statistical Report published by the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB).

 

 

 

The previous record of 3.01 million tourist visits was set in 2006. A total of 1,951,752 land-based, overnight tourists arrived in Jamaica by air in 2011, while 1,125,481 visitors arrived via cruise ship. The Falmouth cruise facility, which opened last year, accounted for much of the visitor growth, with 1.12 million arrivals, up 25 percent from 909,619 arrivals in 2010. Nearly half of all cruise ship visitors to Jamaica docked at the Falmouth Pier, and the port has made Jamaica the Caribbean’s fastest-growing cruise destination, according to the report.

Conversely, overnight air arrivals grew slightly to 1.95 million, a 1.6 percent increase over 2010 totals. Visitors from the United States declined during the period, down 1.4 percent to 1,225,565, while Canadian visitor totals increased by 16.5 percent to 379,000 arrivals. Tourist arrivals from the Europe and the United Kingdom were down 7.2 percent versus 2010, to 253,049.