Jamaica hits 1M visitors

Jamaica has passed one million visitors in 2026, five months after Hurricane Melissa disrupted the island’s tourism sector, Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett said. (caribbeannationalweekly.com) Bartlett said the country logged more than one million arrivals and earned about US$956 million in foreign exchange in the first quarter of 2026. He made the remarks at a Jamaican diaspora event in Washington, D.C. (caribbeannationalweekly.com) He credited Jamaicans living abroad with helping fill planes, hotels, and cruise itineraries during the recovery push, calling the diaspora one of the country’s most influential groups of ambassadors. Bartlett had already been targeting diaspora audiences in New York and South Florida after the storm. (caribbeannationalweekly.com) (mot.gov.jm) (caribbeannationalweekly.com) The rebound follows a late-2025 recovery plan built around reopening hotels, restoring airlift, and reassuring travelers that major resort areas were operating again. Jamaica’s official travel alerts page says all international and domestic airports are operational. (mot.gov.jm) (visitjamaica.com) By mid-December 2025, 72 percent of Jamaica’s hotel room inventory was back online, according to the Jamaica Information Service. Bartlett said 2025 still ended with 3.7 million total visitors, including 2.6 million stopovers and 1.1 million cruise passengers, generating an estimated US$4.09 billion. (jis.gov.jm) The government also set up a fund of more than J$1 billion in November 2025 to help tourism workers with housing and rehabilitation needs after Melissa. That support was paired with a recovery task force and a target to fully restart the sector by December 15, 2025. (mot.gov.jm 1) (mot.gov.jm 2) Official tourism pages now list large numbers of hotels in Montego Bay, Negril, Ocho Rios, Kingston, and the South Coast as open and taking bookings. The tourism board has also tied this year’s diaspora conference, scheduled for June 14-18 in Montego Bay, to rebuilding a more climate-resilient Jamaica. (visitjamaica.com 1) (visitjamaica.com 2) The one-million mark gives Jamaica a fresh benchmark for the 2026 recovery campaign: convert a storm-season comeback into a stable winter and summer pipeline, with diaspora travelers still at the center of the pitch. (caribbeannationalweekly.com) (mot.gov.jm)