Jamaica listed as number-five trending destination for New Year's travel

Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett, says the recent listing of Jamaica as the number-five trending destination for New Year’s travel by the Consumer News and Business Channel (CNBC) is another massive boost for tourism.

Bartlett said he was not surprised by the report, considering the kind of investor interest and “inroads we have been making” in the high-end luxury tourism market.

“We have been getting a lot of calls since the report came out nearly two weeks ago,” Bartlett said, adding that to be the number-five trending destination in the world for New Year’s travel is simply the kind of publicity we could not have afforded.

The CNBC report, which was quoting directly from a survey done by travel search engine giant Kayak.com, has Jamaica behind Cartagena, Colombia (4); Palm Springs, California (3); Florence, Italy (2); and The Bahamas at number one.

Kayak explained that in arriving at the top-five trending destinations, it looked at flight destinations with the greatest year-over-year increase in searches for the top 100 most searched destinations for travel dates, starting December 25 through December 31 and ending January 1 through January 2, 2019.

It also noted that “while sunny Jamaica is a popular vacation destination year-round, Kayak found a 30 per cent spike in year-over-year searches for New Year’s”.

“The median airfare for flights to Jamaica fluctuates frequently, but low prices were found 10 weeks before departure, at US$637, and two weeks before departure, at US$613. Trending hotels on Kayak in Jamaica for New Year’s Eve include Royal Decameron Cornwall Beach, Breathless Montego Bay (adults only resort) and Royalton Negril Resort and Spa,” the report noted.

Bartlett said the report could not have come at a better time or “from a more reputable source”, considering that “everyone watches CNBC”, the cornerstone of the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) Universal division of Comcast Corporation.

“Kayak is one of the more reputable names in the travel industry, while CNBC has for nearly 30 years been a financial news and information outlet providing real-time stock coverage and analysis of the business world and beyond. This is the kind of news outlet that attracts the business class and the well-to-do and fits into the kind of high-end travellers we are trying to get here,” the Minister added.