McNeil says revised tourist arrival figures correct

The Opposition is saying it got it right when it announced a downward revision of the expected tourism arrivals Jamaica would welcome this year.

Earlier this week, Tourism Minister Ed Bartlett said despite a recovery in arrivals after a difficult May and June, the tourism sector now does not expect to see the two million stop over arrivals projected for this year.

Mr. Bartlett has revised that number to 1.9 million stop over tourists.

Dr. Wykham McNeil, Opposition Spokesman on Tourism, says the new projections are in line with the latest travel trends.

"This year, he was more cautious in his predictions and the figure was about 7% at the start of the year. This summer has not been bad but the fall coming is not looking good, so a downward prediction is in order.

"I have not seen the figure but I suspect that somewhere about 3 or 4% will be in keeping with what we're looking at this year," Dr. McNiel said.

Jamaica had so far welcomed about 1.3 million visitors from January to August this year.