Jamaica continues to feel the ill effects of previous United States of America State Department-issued travel advisories warning Americans against travel to Jamaica.
In a response to Our Today regarding his outlook on the tourism sector’s performance and future prospects, newly elected Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association President Christopher Jarrett said he anticipates that the fallout from earlier US travel advisories will last only a few more months.
“Although the new travel advisory is less serious, the effects of the former are still being felt as persons considering travel likely had already made decisions regarding travel, based on the previous advisory. So we expect that it will take a few months, perhaps, for sensitivity to this new advisory to penetrate the market. Notwithstanding, Jamaica’s tourism appeal has remained strong,” he shared in an e-mailed response.
The US State Department on May 29, 2025, revised its travel advisory to Jamaica from a Level 3 risk, in which it urged travellers to reconsider journeying to Jamaica due to safety and health concerns, to a Level 2. The new advisory reflects a decrease in violent crime since 2024.
The Canadian Government’s travel advisory for Jamaica has further dampened the outlook for the tourism sector’s growth prospects. As of June 30, Canada has advised its citizens to “exercise a high degree of caution” in Jamaica due to the high level of violent crime”. Still, Jarrett is optimistic the impact of such a warning will be short-lived.
“As Canada is one of our stronger source markets, we expect the decline but are hopeful that, as a consequence of the trade tensions between the US and Canada, we may see an equalisation of the business lost in comparison to the gains,” Jarrett told Our Today.
“There naturally are pockets of persons who won’t get past that part of our long past history, but generally speaking, information on the recent historical gains in the reduction in violent crime and murder is making its rounds (on social media) and we are hopeful that it will help remove this stain,” he continued.
The new JHTA president points to a 1.5 per cent improvement in June’s outturn, compared to the same month in 2024, as a sign of a rebound in the sector. He added that this could be due to the Jamaica Tourist Board’s “diversified marketing effort”.
“There are some gains in respect of that strategy that could be highlighted, like the fact that Jamaica was chosen to host of the Caricom conference in Montego Bay and there continues to be recognition of our several sites recognized by UNESCO as world heritage sites, including the Blue and John Crow mountains as well as Port Royal,” Jarrett said.
Still, he contends that several other cultural assets should benefit from the JTB’s aggressive marketing. However, Jarrett is aware that such marketing will require the involvement of private sector investment.
“Some of the more prominent ones like Devon House need no real marketing, but there are many others that ought to be highlighted. The sports, entertainment and gastronomy [linkages] have, in my view, established a significant impact as specific reasons for travel to Jamaica,” the JHTA president added.
He also shared his optimism for further growth, as Jamaica has been attracting a new profile of tourists from markets like India and Latin America. He also finds the recent addition of airlifts from countries such as Portugal and the United Arab Emirates to be encouraging.
Commenting on the current US tariff regime, Jarret said it will and has softened demand and tourism spend, “but we must continue to look at other source markets, one of which is our own backyard—the Caribbean”.