2024 will mark 60 years of diplomatic relations between Japan and Jamaica, and the Caribbean’s third-largest island nation hopes the special anniversary will spur the arrival of more Japanese travelers.
For decades, Jamaica has been a long-haul destination for Japanese eager to experience the country’s pristine beaches, natural environment, gourmet coffee, fine rum, and reggae music.
The Jamaican embassy in Tokyo estimates that more than 100,000 Japanese have visited Jamaica in the past 15 years, mainly for sightseeing, golf, tennis, diving, shopping, reggae concerts, and English language studies.
Resort hotel in Trelawney Image: Kathryn Wortley
Now, Jamaica’s tourism ministry is keen to expand the Japanese market as air connectivity improves and a $5 billion investment boom is expected to boost the number of hotel rooms by 15,000 to 20,000 over the next five to ten years.
Jamaica is easier to visit than before the pandemic thanks to a 2019 aviation agreement between the United States and Japan. The agreement allows for increased flight services between the two countries, thereby improving connections to Jamaica.
In attracting the Japanese market, “the connectivity challenge is always the most difficult, but we have routes that connect to Jamaica through the United States, which is the most connected set of gateways in the world,” said Donovan White, Jamaica’s director of tourism, at the Caribbean Travel Marketplace 2024 in late May.
Speaking in host city Montego Bay, Jamaica, White said most Japanese visitors arrive through Miami and New York. Still, the market has also recently expressed interest in traveling through London Heathrow Airport.
However, while Japanese travelers to Jamaica are increasing, Japan is unlikely to become a key source market like the United States (the source of more than half of total arrivals), Canada, and the United Kingdom, according to travel information and trends provider ForwardKeys.
“Jamaica is gaining popularity, but it remains a niche for the Japanese market,” said Olivier Ponti, the company’s director of intelligence and marketing.
Room for growth
According to the Jamaica Tourist Board, Jamaica’s tourism industry has experienced an unprecedented boom post-pandemic, with gross receipts increasing 9% year-on-year during the 2023-2024 fiscal year and a record two million visitors. Between January and May 2024. By comparison, calendar year 2019 saw 4.2 million visitors, so 2024 is likely to be a bumper year for arrivals.
Amid growing interest, representatives from Japan were among approximately 1,000 delegates who attended the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association’s flagship annual event, designed to facilitate increased travel to and within the Caribbean region. Over three days, the Caribbean Travel Marketplace 2024 also attracted representatives from 26 Caribbean countries, 178 supplier companies and 101 buyer companies.
Attendees were introduced not only to Montego Bay, located on Jamaica’s northern coast and home to beautiful beaches, luxury hotels and Rose Hall, one of the country’s most impressive pieces of 18th-century Georgian Jamaican architecture, but also to what other parts of the country have to offer.
Montego Bay is one of six tourist areas: Kingston, the capital and home of reggae; Negril, famous for its casual atmosphere and seven-mile stretch of white sand; Ocho Ríos, recognized as a center for adventure and water sports; the Port Antonio Arts and Crafts Center; and the quiet, rural south coast.
Treasure Beach Image: Kathryn Wortley
A trip to Saint Elizabeth, located at the mouth of the Black River on the south coast, revealed Treasure Beach, a tranquil spot made up of four coves and their associated villages, and Floyd’s Pelican Bar, whose offshore location (accessible only by boat) offers panoramic sunset views.
Nearby, in Saint Eizabeth’s lush Nassau Valley, lies Appleton Rum Estate, the country’s oldest rum distillery and home to one of the tours marketed to Japanese Caribbean cruise customers. Visitors can learn about the historical production methods of this 250-year-old rum, including how the juice was extracted from sugar cane, and taste samples.
Other food and drink tours expected to appeal to Japanese visitors include those related to the island’s Blue Mountain coffee, renowned for its high quality due to the optimal altitude, climate and forest cover of Jamaica’s Blue Mountains.
More than 70% of this famous coffee is exported annually to Japan. Its popularity is such that Japanese consumers celebrate Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Day on January 9 each year. In 2024, the occasion coincided with the 70th year of direct coffee shipment to Japan, according to the Jamaica Coffee Exporters Association.
At Craighton Estate, Kingston, owned by Tokyo-based Ueshima Coffee Company, visitors can enjoy a tour that includes a walk through the working coffee plantation and historic grand house and a tasting of Blue Mountain coffee.
Jamaica’s position as the birthplace of reggae is also expected to be an increasingly important draw. This unique form of music has had a loyal following in Japan since the first visit by leading reggae artist Bob Marley in 1979. Today, there are around 300 reggae groups and sound systems in Japan, and there are a growing number of events and festivals across the country celebrating reggae music and Jamaican culture.
According to the Jamaica Tourist Board, such a diverse package of attractions will continue to attract Japanese travelers.
Jamaica’s Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett, left, and Donovan White, Jamaica’s tourism director. Image: Kathryn Wortley
“We are seeing pent-up demand for travel and we will build on that with some of our well-known and loved assets, such as our Blue Mountain coffee, our diverse culinary offering and our infectious reggae,” Chairman White told attendees at Tourism Expo Japan in September 2022 following the announcement of the full easing of Covid-induced border restrictions in Japan.
“Japan represents a key market for new engagement given the country’s overseas travel of more than 20 million in 2019 and strong cultural and diplomatic connections with Jamaica,” Jamaican Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett said at the time. He added that “now is the time to innovate and attract Japanese visitors with our authentic Jamaican experiences.”
Indeed, Jamaica has been stepping up its efforts to attract the Japanese market since September 2022, including through a familiarization trip organized by the Jamaica Tourist Board for Japanese travel agents in 2023. The aim is to enable better sales and presentation of the destination to holiday seekers.
So far, those efforts appear to be paying off.
“Younger middle-class professionals travel more [to Jamaica] from the Japanese market; that’s the interest we’re seeing, and that’s the interest we continue to attract,” White said.
