New figures show Jamaica recorded 217,647 UK visitors last year, an increase of 5.4% and a rise of more than 40,000 since 2014.

The final figure for Barbados has not yet been published, but in the 2017 January-November period, Barbados saw 195,802 UK arrivals. It recorded 218,638 UK air arrivals for the whole of 2016, with its December 2016 arrivals at 24,889, indicating that Barbados’s crown may be safe for another year, if 2017 follows the same pattern.

Jamaica’s UK numbers have risen rapidly in the past few years following investment by Tui in new flights and developments of large hotels. The Montego Bay area accommodated more than 35% of all tourist arrivals last year, followed by Ocho Rios (23%), Negril (19%) and the south coast (5%).

However, Jamaica’s figures for 2018 may yet be affected by a State of Emergency affecting Montego Bay in St James Parish.

The UK FCO is not advising against travel to the area, but is telling visitors to limit their movements outside resorts, which may affect forward bookings.

Meanwhile, Donovan White has been appointed as the new director of tourism for the Jamaica Tourist Board, and will take up the position on February 15.

Jamaica’s tourism minister Edmund Bartlett said of the appointment: “He brings a solid business acumen and marketing savvy to the Jamaica Tourist Board, having developed, managed and executed vertically integrated marketing and branding strategies for a range of industry sectors including media, telecoms, advertising and technology.”