Following three exciting days of destination updates, face-to-face meetings and countless networking opportunities, the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB), Jamaica Hotel & Tourist Association and Jamaica Ministry of Tourism are celebrating the completion of a successful 2026 Jamaica Product Exchange (JAPEX), an annual event dedicated to showcasing the destination, making connections and negotiating business. Set to the backdrop of beautiful Ocho Rios, this year’s event welcomed 423 total delegates — including 86 buyer companies, 82 supplier companies and 57 trade media members — and accounted for 1,394 meetings held, each of which O’Brian Heron, president of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association, said plays an important role in sharing Jamaica’s story with the world.
“Over the next few days, buyers, suppliers, hoteliers, attractions, service providers and industry leaders will come together to build relationships, to exchange ideas and to create opportunities,” he said. “Those connections matter, because tourism does not stand alone. Tourism supports farmers, manufactures, entertainers, transportation providers, entrepreneurs and thousands of Jamaican families. The multiplier effect is very true, and we’re part of a bigger ecosystem. When tourism succeeds, the benefits extend well beyond our hotels and well beyond our attractions. And that’s why the conversations we have here matter. And that is why the partnerships we build here matter.”
The theme of this year’s event was “Jamaica Reimagined,” and Heron said the motif was fitting as the destination has faced many challenges after Hurricane Melissa made landfall on the island in October 2025.
“Hurricane Melissa tested our communities, tested our businesses and our people, yet it reminded us of something we already knew: Jamaica as a destination is resilient,” he said. “Across the island, tourism stakeholders came together to support employees, families and communities. Businesses rebuilt, reinvested and continued moving forward. But resilience is not simply about recovering, it is truly about what comes next.”
Tourism 3.0
Speaking of what comes next, another recurring theme was the idea of “Tourism 3.0.,” an initiative centered around “reimagining tourism as something that connects not only visitors with our destination, but also our people with the opportunities that the industry creates,” according to Philip Rose, deputy director of tourism for Jamaica Tourist Board. “[Tourism] must connect town and country, Kingston and the North Coast, our major resorts and our smallest communities. Tourism must be understood not as an industry that exists somewhere else, behind hotel gates or along the coastline, but as an industry that belongs to every Jamaican. … The promise of Tourism 3.0 is simple: Growth with purpose, development with inclusion and an industry that improves the lives of our people.”
Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism, the Honorable Edmund Bartlett, said Tourism 3.0 aligns with the destination’s new “10 by 10 by 10” KPIs in which it hopes to achieve 10 million visitors, earning 10 million U.S. tourism dollars within 10 years. “[Those tourism] dollars will be in the hands of our farmers, our manufacturers, our entrepreneurs and our creators. Reimagining tourism means reimagining who it serves, and it must serve Jamaica first,” said Bartlett.
Performance Updates
As for Jamaica’s tourism numbers, business is booming with the destination receiving 2.3 million visitors from January through August 2026, accounting for $2.5 billion in revenue. “To say we have achieved some remarkable numbers is an understatement,” said Rose.
“We no longer celebrate just heads in beds,” he said. “We celebrate the revenue that’s generated, and all of that dovetails beautifully into our commitment to Tourism 3.0.”
According to Rose, demand for travel to Jamaica remains strong as we approach 2027, outpacing the island’s current hotel inventory and resulting in sky-high airfares for some. Luckily, room inventory is on the up and up, too, and Rose shared that 70% of Jamaica’s rooms are currently open and available to book, while the remaining 30% are expected to open by early 2027.
“Looking towards 2027, we have just shy of 3,500 rooms coming up in Q1,” he said. “Overall, we have over 11,000 more rooms coming back on stream between 2026 and 2027, that’s a remarkable feat, ladies and gentlemen.”
As for getting there, Rose said the team has been working hard to expand airlift offerings to Jamaica around the world.
“There are strong levels of confidence from the global airline markets,” he said. “I keep telling everybody that the job of any destination is not to convince an airline to fly to a destination. The job of the destination is to create so much demand that we force the airlines to not introduce capacity but then to increase capacity. And Jamaica's tourist board has done a remarkable job in creating so much demand where the airlines have no choice but to fly to Jamaica.”
Indeed, Jamaica is currently welcoming an increase in incoming flights from the U.S. and Canada, two of the destination’s top markets, while Europe, the U.K. and Latin America will all enjoy enhanced connectivity to the island as we approach the new year.
Of course, cruising plays a large role in Jamaica’s tourism story, too, and Rose said the folks at JTB “wholeheartedly embrace our cruise visitors.” Currently, Jamaica welcomes popular lines like Norwegian Cruise Lines, MSC Cruises, Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Princess and Virgin Voyages, accounting for 234 total calls from January through July 2026, and 736,372 total passengers. And that’s not all as Rose teased that Disney Destiny is slated to join the island’s cruise ship lineup in fall 2026 accounting for an additional 2,800 passengers.
In short, "Jamaica is full, Jamaica is in demand, Jamaica is sexy,” said Rose.
A Word to Advisors
As Jamaica looks forward to an exciting year ahead, Rose says travel advisors play an essential role in helping the destination succeed. “The travel advisor community has always been a very important and critical aspect of our sales ecosystem,” he said. “We see travel advisors as being more than just the proverbial cashiers. We see them as being our champions, if you will, of our brand, being evangelists of our brand, and they will continue to play a very critical role.”
When asked how advisors can support Jamaica’s vision for Tourism 3.0, Rose said it's all about storytelling. “Sell Jamaica using the authentic truth that is Jamaica,” he said. “What do I mean by that? While Jamaicans and Jamaica gave the world the year-round all-inclusive concept, and we became synonymous with this concept, it is not what we are limited to.”
Instead, Rose said advisors can aid in sharing the island’s lesser-known nooks and crannies with their clients. “There is a Jamaica for everyone,” he said. “That diversity is not only seen and enjoyed on your plate, it is also seen and enjoyed in our hospitality industry, in the accommodations, in the attractions. So, when selling Jamaica, don’t just think of us as having only big, long, beautiful large resorts, think of us as also having small accommodations in the countryside.”
Rose continued, saying, “I know it’s hard to pull your clients away from the beaches, but the interior of our island is absolutely spectacular. … There are visitors out there who want to go bird watching, there are visitors out there who want to enjoy the cool hills of Manitou, who want to climb the beautiful Blue Mountain Peak and enjoy Blue Mountain Park at its source. So, travel advisors can help us by continuing to spread the word, continuing to tell the story and continuing to attract visitors that want a little bit more than what is on the very surface of Jamaica.”
Advisors who are ready to learn more can enroll in JTB’s Jamaica Travel Specialist Program. “[The] program is designed to bring you into our world,” said Rose. “It allows us to teach you all about Jamaica, it allows you to keep abreast of all the changes, and not just the wonderful resorts that have been rebuilt and new villas that are coming downstream and new attractions, but it also allows you to find out how to best position Jamaica. We hold your hand, we walk you through how best to sell Jamaica and we work with you to follow up with your clients afterwards.”
Rose says JTB will continue to invest in advisors, and he hopes advisors, in turn, will do the same for Jamaica. “Travel advisors are here to stay, we embrace them wholeheartedly and we want more of you to come into our ecosystem … Keep in contact with us, learn about what the new offerings are and then continue to share those offerings with your clients.”
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