Jamaica Just Set a Bold New Goal of 10 Million Visitors a Year, Backed by New Flights, Reopened Resorts, and a 10-Year Plan

Jamaica has just set its most ambitious tourism goal yet.

At a reception honoring Jamaica travel specialists at The Kimberly Hotel in New York City, Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett laid out a bold new vision for the island’s most important industry. He called it 10x10x10 — a plan to grow Jamaica to 10 million annual visitors within the next 10 years.

It is a striking target for an island that has spent recent years rebuilding and proving its resilience. And Bartlett framed it not as a distant dream but as the natural next chapter for a destination already running hot.

The goal would roughly triple Jamaica’s current annual visitor count, a leap that would reshape the island’s place in the global travel market. To get there, Bartlett pointed to the forces already converging in Jamaica’s favor.

It’s a plan that has only been achieved once in the Caribbean: the Dominican Republic, which outlined the goal in 2013 and acutally did end up actually eclipsing that total within the timeframe.

Strong visitor arrivals, expanding air connectivity and renewed investment across the sector are all pointing in the same direction. The momentum has been building for months, and the 10 million figure is meant to capture just how high the ceiling now looks.

For Bartlett, the room full of Jamaica travel specialists was exactly the right audience to hear it. He praised the specialists and industry partners for their role in keeping Jamaica among the Caribbean’s leading destinations, then charged them with helping the island hit its new numbers.

“Jamaica continues to stand apart in a highly competitive global marketplace because our culture is not simply an addition to the visitor experience; it is the experience,” Bartlett said. “The authenticity of our people, our music, our food, and our way of life continue to drive strong visitor loyalty and repeat business.”

That message of cultural authenticity has become a through-line in how Jamaica sells itself. And the numbers suggest it is working.

The Minister was clear that Jamaica’s tourism sector has moved beyond recovery and is now firmly in a growth phase. From January through May, the island welcomed more than 1.5 million stopover and cruise visitors and generated roughly $1.5 billion in foreign exchange earnings.

Those figures reflect sustained demand and a deepening confidence in the destination. They also give the 10 million target a foundation of real performance rather than aspiration alone.

There have been headwinds, and Bartlett did not gloss over them. Despite recent weather-related challenges, Jamaica has continued to strengthen its tourism infrastructure and rebuild capacity at a steady pace.

Roughly 80 percent of the country’s room inventory is currently operational, with full recovery expected by early 2027. That recovery is already visible on the ground at several major properties.

Among the resorts that have resumed operations are Princess Senses The Mangrove and Princess Grand Jamaica. The reopenings signal a return to full strength for some of the island’s most prominent hotel brands.

Rebuilding that room inventory is also central to the math behind 10 million visitors. More rooms mean more beds to fill, and Jamaica will need every one of them to reach the new goal.

Air connectivity is the other engine behind the ambition, and it is expanding on multiple fronts. Bartlett pointed to growing service from Latin America through Wingo, a carrier that has been steadily opening new links into the region.

He also highlighted strong support from Virgin Atlantic in the United Kingdom, a long-standing source market for Jamaica. And he flagged the addition of new winter services from Porter Airlines in Canada, another important feeder market for the island.

The combination matters because airlift is what turns demand into arrivals. More seats from more places mean more visitors walking off planes at Sangster International Airport and beyond.

“These developments are not happening in isolation,” Bartlett emphasized. “Improved connectivity, expanded accommodations, growing cruise arrivals and strong destination demand are working together to create the conditions for sustained growth and enhanced competitiveness.”

It is a holistic picture, and that is the point. Reaching 10 million visitors will not come from a single lever but from several pulling in the same direction at once.

The Minister also had a specific message for the travel specialists who fill itineraries and close bookings every day. He revealed that the Jamaica Tourist Board is developing a new travel agent incentive program built to reward specialist partners for their ongoing support.

Details of the initiative are set to be announced in July. The program is a clear signal that Jamaica sees its specialist network as central to hitting the new target rather than as an afterthought.

That sentiment was echoed by Donovan White, the island’s Director of Tourism. He framed the specialist community as essential to the entire effort.

“We can never underestimate the power of our travel specialists who champion Jamaica every day to global consumers,” White said. “To achieve this new target, we will be leaning on them even more to attract these numbers to the destination.”

Looking further out, Bartlett reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to building a resilient and future-ready sector. That means investing in sustainable practices, enhanced digital infrastructure and workforce development across the board.

A major piece of that vision is human capital, with capacity-building aimed at meeting the demands of a fast-growing industry. Serving 10 million visitors a year will require a far deeper bench of trained tourism workers than the island has today.

“We are investing not only in today’s growth but in Jamaica’s long-term success,” Bartlett said. “That means empowering the next generation of tourism leaders, strengthening sustainability across the sector and working closely with our partners to ensure Jamaica remains agile, relevant and resilient in an ever-changing global travel environment.”

It is a notably forward-looking framing for a destination that could easily rest on its current results. Instead, Jamaica is treating its present strength as a launching point.

The 10x10x10 target gives that ambition a memorable shape, with 10 million visitors as the headline number and a decade as the runway. What is already clear is the scale of the aspiration and the confidence behind it.

Bartlett closed by thanking the travel specialists, media representatives and tourism stakeholders in attendance for their continued partnership and faith in Destination Jamaica. He expressed optimism about the opportunities ahead for the island’s tourism sector.

For an island riding a genuine wave of momentum, the mood in New York was unmistakable. Jamaica is no longer talking about getting back to where it was.

It is talking about how much further it can go. And with arrivals climbing, airlift expanding and resorts coming back online, the path to 10 million visitors looks more credible than it might have just a few years ago.

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