The new heavily mutated Omicron variant is spreading across the globe at an unprecedented rate according to the World Health Organization (WHO) but that isn’t dampening the spirits of hoteliers and other tourism players in Negril as they welcome the winter tourist season.
President of the Negril Chamber of Commerce and prominent hotelier Richard Wallace says bookings look promising.
Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett says this winter season is expected to enable the destination to end 2021 with an excellent showing of $1.6 million visitors and over US $2 billion in earnings; reporting that the season should see similar occupancy levels to 2019, with the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) projecting an average of Sixty-five percent (65%) occupancy in hotels across the island.
Minister Bartlett says based on recent data, the demand for Jamaica is also thirty-eight percent (38%) of 2019, against the world demand of twenty-four percent (24%).
More details in this report:
