Tweet
Tourism interests are reporting a record increase in arrivals, despite a downturn in the regional tourism market.
Tourism Minister Ed Bartlett said for the first half of 2008, the industry topped arrivals as well as earnings figures, resulting in its best performance ever.
Mr. Bartlett said approximately 1,004,000 tourists came to Jamaica while earnings rose to more than US$1,100,000,000.
The figure exceeds last year's figure of US$957,000,000.
The increase in arrivals followed a strong Winter Tourist Season.
The Jamaica Tourist Board, JTB, had reported that stopover arrivals for the Season had increased by more than eight percent.
At that time, the JTB said it expected the level of growth to continue into spring and summer with double digit figures.