Tropical Storm Nicole - Planning Institute of Jamaica

B. Tourism Sector
General Overview
Over the last three years, Jamaica’s tourism industry operated in a very challenging
environment owing to the impact of the global economic recession. Since 2007, total visitor
arrivals have been trending downwards, influenced by consecutive yearly declines in cruise
passenger arrivals (Table 20). Stopover arrivals on the other hand has continued its upward
growth trend, and in 2009, grew by 3.6 percent compared with 2008 (Table 19).
Historically, the USA represents the largest source market from which stopover visitors to
the island originate. For 2009, 64.1 percent of the stopover visitors to the island originated
from the USA; 15.9 per cent from Canada; and 15.1 percent from Europe. The winter
tourist season, one of the most active periods in the Jamaican tourist industry, runs from
December 15 through to April 15. The resort areas and attractions in the island are mainly
concentrated along the costal regions of the island, particularly in the areas of Montego Bay,
Ocho Rios, Negril.
Fortunately, Tropical Storm Nicole occurred during the off-season and as such damage to
the sector was not as bad as it could have been. Similarly, loss of income was somewhat
mitigated because, the country had approximately 50.0 per cent less tourists than would have
been the case in the high season (Table 20) A review of data from the Ministry of Tourism,
indicates that September 29 – October 2 (the period the following the tropical storm), there
was an overall increase in total passenger arrivals of 118 compared with the similar period
for 2009. There were also 12 more flights recorded over the four day period in 2010.
Therefore it may be concluded that the Tropical Storm Nicole had no significant impact on
visitor arrivals to Jamaica.
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