MINISTER of Tourism Edmund Bartlett is reporting gross foreign exchange earnings of US$2.34 billion for the first 10 months of the year, representing a 10.8 per cent increase over the corresponding period in 2016.

The figure puts the country in good position to reach the US$3-billion mark for the year.

“So, we have two full months to go, and last year, the earnings for the entire year were US$2.56 billion. So… it is just possible, with a little more effort, in the month of December in particular, for us to make US$3 billion in earnings,” Minister Bartlett said.

“That would be something very special, because we would break a new threshold,” he added.

He was speaking at the media launch of the 2017 Tourism Service Excellence Awards Programme at the Liguanea Club in New Kingston on Tuesday.

The tourism minister informed that the country is on course to reach four million visitors for the “first time in our history [in] the first week of December”.

He noted that the island continues to have record-breaking arrivals, welcoming 3.3 million visitors during the first nine months of the year, which represents an overall increase of 9.5 per cent.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/tourism-earnings-up_117215