Tourism and scuba diving in Jamaica

                                      Tourism and scuba diving in Jamaica

Jamaica Tourism Market

Jamaica Tourism Minister of Tourism and entertainment Dr. Wykeham McNeill targets weddings and Honeymoons. According the Dr. McNeill, he is looking to add more focus in the area of weddings and honeymoons to increase visitors to Jamaica. Areas such as sports tourism and health tourism are industries that Jamaica will be looking to exploit. While there have been questions about the type of wedding and honeymoon that will be taking place in Jamaica, no one can question the increase in visitors to Jamaica.

 

moon palace jamaica view from partial ocean front suite

Tourist Arrival 

As Jamaica is experiencing a continuous rise in tourism for the first half of 2012, Dr. McNeill was quoted as saying, “It is estimated that for the first time in our history, there will be over one billion international tourist arrivals this year.” Now Jamaica is trying to figure out different ways to take advantage of the tourism market. The minister is looking at stopover visitors and the effect they have on the economy. 

 

Tourism Driven Economy

Jamaica continues to be a tourism driven economy. Therefore, the country should look to find new ideas on how they can take advantage of this growing tourism market. It’s no secret that Jamaica has suffered during this recession period that has affected the rest of the world. People slowed their travel to the island and family members were sending less money for their love ones. Now the country must find new ways to start back growing the economy. What’s important is that the tourism hotel business does not drive business away by trying to capitalize too much too fast and overcharge the visitors. 

 

The minister shared the figure on the percentage of growth in each sector of the industry market. Dr. McNeill says, “Although these figures are provisional, there is a clear indication that we are off to an excellent start.” The Minister went on to say that he anticipate that the upward trend would continue. 

 

Along with the wedding and honeymoon market, Dr. McNeill is also looking at the health and sports tourism markets.

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