Highest Number Of Tourists Ever Took Holidays To Jamaica In 2011

Jamaica recently recorded the highest number of tourist arrivals ever in 2011 with

a total of 3.07 million of holidaymakers visiting the island last year. This growth in the number of people taking Jamaica holidays marked an 8.4 per cent increase in the number of visitors the island received, compared to figures from 2010.

Marking an all-time record for the Caribbean nation, this surge in the number of holidaymakers confirms the great position in which Jamaicas tourism is in right now, growing at a faster pace than ever and aided by the increasing worldwide interest in this holiday destination, with more travellers than ever being attracted to the island by the tropical weather and the laidback attitude of this colourful nation. UK travellers used to drive the total number of visitors up, with Jamaica being one of the top favourite Caribbean holiday destinations for British holidaymakers. However, in more recent years, more UK holidaymakers have been put off travelling to Jamaica, and the Caribbean in general, due to the annual increase of the controversial APD tax imposed by the UK government, and which is seen as hugely unfair to the Caribbean nations and Commonwealth countries in particular, which share so much in common with the UK.

The island previously held a record of 3.01 million tourists, and this latest increase has also been helped by Jamaicas tourism boards latest promotional campaign across the globe, using famous Jamaican icons such as world athlete champion, Usain Bolt. The latest tourism figures indicate that 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 brand new Falmouth cruise facility in Jamaica, which just opened last year, accounted for much of the increase in travellers going on Jamaica holidays via cruise ships, with a total of 1.12 million arrivals, up 25 per cent from 909,619 arrivals in 2010. Nearly half of all cruise ship visitors who took cruise holidays in Jamaica docked at the Falmouth Pier, and the port has made Jamaica the Caribbeans fastest-growing cruise destination, according to the recently published report.

On the other end of the scale, overnight air arrivals to Jamaica grew slightly to 1.95 million, marking a considerably smaller 1.6 per cent increase over 2010s figures. Holidaymakers arriving to Jamaica holidays from the United States slightly declined during the period, down by 1.4 per cent to 1,225,565, while more Canadian visitors flooded the island, with the total figures increasing by 16.5 per cent to 379,000 arrivals from Canadian travellers. Tourist arrivals from the European region and the United Kingdom in general were down by a whopping 7.2 per cent compared to 2010, to 253,049.

by: Jose Gundin

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