Jamaica's tourism ministry has reported a record number of foreign visitors for Carnival activities which ended in Kingston on Sunday.
Delano Seiveright, Senior Strategist in the Ministry of Tourism, told RJR News that this is based on preliminary figures.
“The number of foreign visitors are very significant. The two largest bands are Exodus and Xamaya where they had in excess of 50-55 per cent foreigners. So we have had at least 9,000 regulars on the ground. This was indeed the biggest carnival in Jamaica’s history," he asserted.
Concerning the economic benefits, he said the revenue intake was very significant.
“We are talking about hundreds of millions of dollars… The hotels are full,” Seiveright said.
Air seats
Meanwhile, Jamaica is set to welcome increased travelers this summer as the destination has secured over 1.4 million air seats for the season.
This is an increase of 108,872 or 8.4 per cent over last summer.
Jamaica's primary source market, the United States, has seen the biggest growth, having secured more than 100,000 additional seats for May to August.
Director of Tourism Donovan White says Jamaica is looking to build on the strong start to 2019, having welcomed more than 1.3 million visitors through the end of March.
This generated almost US$950 million in revenue for the sector.
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