Airport and cruise arrivals to the island point to an uneven summer recovery.
The Norman Manley International Airport (NMIA) in Kingston posted passenger growth in July, bucking a broader pattern of softness across Jamaica’s tourism transport network as Montego Bay’s air traffic remained sharply lower year-on-year and cruise arrivals through Falmouth continued to trail previous levels.
Data released by airport operator Pacific Airport Group (GAP) showed that international passenger traffic at NMIA rose 3.0 per cent to 197,400 passengers in July.
At Sangster International Airport (SIA), international passenger traffic declined 26.6 per cent to 374,800 from 510,600 passengers in the corresponding month of 2025. Year to date, SIA handled 2.28 million passengers during the first seven months of the year, down 26.7 per cent from 3.11 million in the corresponding period last year.
By comparison, passenger traffic through NMIA totalled 1.05 million passengers during the January-July period, down 2.4 per cent year-on-year.
GAP, a New York Stock Exchange-listed company, has previously said that the air traffic declines at Sangster were due to the economic fallout arising from the passage of Hurricane Melissa. Despite the July weakness at Sangster, GAP says airline capacity is expected to strengthen ahead of the winter tourist season.
Airlines are expected to restore capacity into Jamaica ahead of the winter tourist season, according to GAP Chief Executive Officer Raúl Revuelta.
Speaking to investors last month, Revuelta said current schedules indicate a full recovery in available seats for the winter period.
“When we see the slots and all the capacity that is today planned for the winter, we are seeing, at least in terms of seats, a full recovery for November and December, and all the winter season for Jamaica,” he stated, adding that it remains unclear whether traveller demand will recover at the same pace as airline capacity.
The latest air travel figures come against the backdrop of weaker cruise performance recorded before Hurricane Melissa disrupted the tourism sector.
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Sangster (Montego Bay)
2025 ██████████████████████████████ 510,600
2026 ████████████████████████ 374,800 ▼ -26.6%
Norman Manley (Kingston)
2025 ██████████████ 191,700
2026 ████████████████ 197,400 ▲ +3.0%
Source: Pacific Airport Group
Looking at cruises, the island continues to decline in that category, with 632,000 arrivals between January to May this year, or 2.9 per cent fewer persons than a year earlier. Additionally, arrivals are down from 746,300 in the similar period during 2024.
Falmouth Pier, the busiest, reduced its share of total passengers from more than half to one-third of the total over that period. That pier was temporarily closed following Hurricane Melissa and reopened on December 2, 2025.
Other major piers, however, have seen rises in arrivals. Ocho Rios recorded 205,400 cruise passengers during January to May, compared with 173,000 a year earlier, and 180,600 in 2024. Montego Bay handled 188,800 cruise passengers, compared with 130,000 in 2025 and 120,200 in 2024.
Sharon Sheriff-White, managing director of Ocho Rios-based Funtastic Travels and Resorts Ltd, told the Financial Gleaner that some vessels that previously docked in Jamaica were being assigned to routes serving other destinations, such as Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Panama.
Taken together, the air and cruise traffic figures suggest that Jamaica’s tourism recovery has not been uniform across its major gateways.
carolyn.guniss@rjrgleaner.com
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Cruise Arrivals, January – May
2024 ████████████████████████████████ 746,300
2025 ████████████████████████ 650,700 ▼ -12.8%
2026 ██████████████████████ 632,100 ▼ -2.9%
Source: Jamaica Tourist Board
