Having undertaken an assessment of the tentative re-opening on June 15 of the country’s tourism industry, which had been hastily closed in the wake of the rampaging COVID-19 pandemic, Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett is doubtless far from happy with the picture that has unfolded before him. What has greeted him are summer tourist arrival figures that are less than a third of normal levels.
Last Sunday’s Jamaica Gleaner disclosed that since the country re-opened its borders to visitors, a paltry 120,000 visitors have shown up, that number being less than a third of the normal tourist inflow for the particular period. Spending by those numbers would earn for the country’s economy approximately US$150 million, some 30% of what tourism customarily brings to the economy during the summer.
Still, the Gleaner says, Bartlett surmises that the country may well be spoilt by the customarily higher numbers and that it still must be thankful for the business that it is getting.