Attempts to organize a bureau responsible for marketing Jamaica resulted in the formation of the Jamaica Tourist Association in 1910. The next important milestone came in 1922 when the Government established the Tourist Trade Development Board. By 1954 the Government recognized the need for a more effective organization than the Tourist Trade Development Board. Out of this re-organization emerged a much altered and invigorated Jamaica Tourist Board established April 1, 1955, membership of which reflected all interests in the industry.

How many persons are employed in the Accommodation Sector?

The list below comprises the various tourist accommodations on the island at the end of 2017.

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There are six (6) Resort Areas in Jamaica. They are as follows:

1. Negril 3.Montego Bay 5 Ocho Rios

Port Antonio 4 Kingston Mandeville & The South Coast

Port Antonio is often referred to as the cradle of tourism in Jamaica. Tourism started in Port Antonio when the banana king, Lorenzo Baker, brought visitors to the island on the return trip after exporting bananas. Baker's hotel, Titchfield, erected in 1890 was the first built to cater to overseas tourists. Essentially, it comprised a group of cottages on top hill at some distance from the dining room and kitchen. The ruins are still clearly visible on Titchfield Hill.

The great exhibition was heralded as the first intensive effort to promote tourism in the island. Its principal purpose was to educate the people and awaken them from economic stupor and steer them up and arouse their interests in the possibilities of the country. Suitable for exhibit were gadgets for curing and preparing ginger, spices, coffee, cocoa and annotto as well as fruit-drying devices, small windmills, turbines and other time and labour ???saving contriviances.

Prior to 1890, a number of lodging houses and inns existed, which numbered in excess of 1400 in 1830. After 1890, hotels were opened in Kingston, Spanish Town, Moneague, Mandeville and Port Antonio of which the most famous were Titchfield in Port Antonio and Myrtle Bank in Kingston. The Titchfield Hotel was re-built in 1905 and the magnificent new structure, which opened that year, helped to make Port Antonio the cradle of Jamaican Tourism. Some of the hotels constructed for the Great Exhibition and within the period are Myrtle Bank, Queens, Rio Cobre, Moneague, Titchfield and Mandeville hotel.

The term "Tourism" is an umbrella one covering all activities associated with tourists. According to the World Tourism Organization, 1993, tourism comprises "the activities of persons traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".

Tourism has been defined as a human activity which involves three basic groups- the host, community and visitor ??? relating to each other through a series of systems, institutions and relationships.

The United Nations and World Tourism Organization's definition of "Tourist" is wide, coveringall who travel for recreation, holiday, business, religion, sport, family reasons, professional or intellectual pursuits, staying at least 24 hours, i.e. overnight, but not more than a year. Excluded are permanent emigrants, diplomats, consular representatives, armed forces personnel and intransit visitors.

There are three (3) distinguishable forms of tourism in relation to any given country. They are domestic, regional and international tourism. Domestic tourism comprises of citizens of the country traveling within the country. Regional tourism comprises of all persons visiting from within the region. International tourism comprises all tourists domestic and outbound tourism.

The output of economic activities resulting in intangible products (as distinct from physical goods), such as accommodation, transport and communications, financial services, as well as education, health and various personal services. Hence, service industries, also described as tertiary industries, as distinct from primary (agriculture and extractive) and secondary (manufacturing and construction). By their nature travel, tourism and hospitality products are largely made up of services and supplied by the services industries.

Establishment providing accommodation, food and drink for reward mainly to travelers and temporary residents, usually also meals and refreshments to other users, and often other facilities and services. More specific meaning is sometimes attached to the term in particular countries for legislative or other purposes, thus, e.g., 'an establishment held out by the proprietor as offering food, drink and, if so required, sleeping accommodation, without special contract, to any traveler presenting himself who appears able and willing to pay a reasonable sum for the services and facilities provided and who is in a fit state to be received' (Great Britain: Hotel Proprietors Act 1956).

Whilst there are many different types of tourism, some of the major ones include:

Eco-tourism Nature Tourism Community Tourism

Sports Tourism Heritage Tourism Cultural Tourism

Special Events Tourism Cruise Tourism

A voyage by ship taken for pleasure, rather than purely for the purpose of transport- commonly by sea, but also on lakes rivers and canals. Trips can be of varying duration which may but need not depart from and return to the same port or include scheduled calls at ports en route. The Caribbean and the Meditteranean are among principal sea cruising areas.

A person or organization selling travel services (such as transportation, accommodation and inclusive tours) on behalf of principals (such as carriers, hotels and tour operators) for a commission. Most travel agents also normally provide ancilliary services, such as obtaining passports and visas, traveller's cheques (traveller's checks), currencies and travel insurance. The principal functions of the travel agent are those of a retailer ??? to provide access for a principal to the market and to provide a location for the customer to buy travel services.

En pension or full-board hotel tariff, which includes room and three meals per day (breakfast, lunch, dinner). Also referred to in the USA as bed and board.

(a) an establishment providing sleeping accommodation with breakfast, usually operated by private households and particularly common in British Isles.

(b) Accommotion tariff which includes sleeping accommodation and Continental or English breakfast, offered by private households as well as commercial establishents.

Trips and visits made by employees and others in the course of their work, including attending meetings, conferences and exhibitions. As an indication of its significance, in recent years UK residents spend more than a quarter of their estimated total expenditure on tourism in the UK on business trips/ visits (United Kingdom Tourism Survey/UKTS); business tourism represented around one-quarter of all in-bound tourism (International Passenger Survey/IPS).

In tourism, the maximum capacity of a site or area to sustain tourist activity without deterioration in the quality of the visitor experience of the environment. Hence, carrying capacity may be seen to have physical, social (perpetual) and environmental dimensions and is normally expressed in terms of a given number of concurrent users of e.g., a historic attraction, beach or resort. The concept was first applied extensively in tourism in the 1960's when it was also incorporated in the planning of such major developments as the Languedoc-Roussillon project in France.

Trip commonly arranged by tourist boards and similar organization for journalists, tour operators and travel agents in generating areas to visit destinations and to become acquainted with their attractions, facilities and services. These trips, popularly known as fam trips, may be viewed as part of sales promotion and as one of the facilitation techniques used by tourism organizations to assist the tourism industry. They also have a public relations role in providing opportunities for influencing communication and distribution channels for travel and tourist products and through the ultimately potential customers. They are also referred to as educational trips or educationals.

Defined for statistical purposes as 'consumption expenditures', ie., payments for goods and services, made by residents of a country visiting abroad. They should, in practice also include expenditures of excursionists, except where these are so important a sto justify separate classification. They should, however, exclude all forms of remunerations resulting from employment as well as international fare payments. This category corresponds to "Travel Debits" in the standard reporting form of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)' (World Tourism Organization).

Defined for statistical purposes as 'the receipts of a country resulting from the consumption expenditures, i.e., payments for goods and services made by international visitors to use themselves or give away. They should, in practice, also include receipts from excursionists, except in cases where these are so important as to justify separate classification. They should however, exclude all forms of remuneration resulting from employment, as well as international fare receipts. This category corresponds to "Travel Credits" in the standard reporting form of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)' (World Tourism Organization).

A small sea, lake or river harbour with docking facilities for motor and sailing boats, usually with maintenance and supply services. Most marinas provide berths for long ??? and short ???term use and some also offer boat charter.

An establishment providing accommodation and often also other facilities and services primarily for motorists. Originating in North America as a response to growth in motor travel, early motels were distinguished by low-rise buildings with rooms normally accessible from the outside, adjacent car parking and location in relation to highways. These features are still characteristic of many motels today but other establishments so called do not differ significantly from hotels with extensive parking facilities, and are sometimes also known as motor hotels, motor inns and motor lodges.

Establishment providing food for consumption on the premises to the general public, to which the supply of alcoholic liquor, if any, is ancillary, as a separate unit or as a part of an hotel or another establishment. Beyond this generalization some restaurants operate under designations such as cafes, snack bars and the like; in some countries the designation of restaurants and other eating establishments is regulated by law.

For statistical purposes, ' a visitor whose visit lasts less than 24 hours and does not involve in an overnight stay'.

A synonym for day visitor. For statistical purposes, a visitor who does not stay overnight in the country or place visited.

Term to describe firms and establishments providing facilities and services for tourists. Economic activities are normally grouped into industries according to their products. As tourists use a range of facilities and services, they are customers of a number of industries as conventionally defined. Those significantly dependent on tourists for their business such as hotels and tour operators are sometimes called tourism-related industries. To the extent to which they supply tourist rather than local and neighbourhood market, they make up a tourism industry, that part of the economy which has a common function of meeting tourists needs.

American term for page boy in a hotel.

American term for hotel head porter.

American term for hotel porter, also called bell man.

A pan-European award for beaches meeting the stricter "guidelines" water quality standards EC Bathing Water Directive and offering good on-shore facilities.

Trips and visits made by employees and others in the course of their work, including attending meetings, conferences and exhibitions. As an indication of its significance in recent years UK residents spent more than a quarter of their estimated total expenditure on tourism in the UK on business trips / visits (United Kingdom Tourism Survey/UKTS); business tourism represented around one-quarter of all in-bound tourism (International Passenger Survey/IPS).

This year marked as such under the auspices of the European commission aimed at heightening the awareness of the political, economic and social importance of tourism. A total of eighteen (18) European countries were involved and more than two thousand related events were held in the UK alone.

American term used as a synonym for hotel industry but also in a wider sense to include to a varying extent all or most other establishments of commercial hospitality, such as guest houses and also condominium.

Demi-pension or half-board hotel tariff, which includes room, breakfast and one main meal per day, usually dinner.

Term used to refer to spending by gay and lesbian consumers who have emerged as a significant and identifiable tourist market segment, in some countries served exclusively by specialist tourism and hospitality operators.

a) Place to which people go for holidays (vacations) and recreation, hence holiday (vacation) and health resorts, also inland and coastal/seaside resorts. Historically the evolution of tourism has been closely identified with the beginnings and subsequent development of resorts. Nowadays the term often has its literal meanings to denote any visitor centre to which people resort in large numbers and capital cities tend to be the largest and most prosperous resorts in their countries, especially for international tourists.

b) In the USA and the Caribbean also a holiday (vacation) hotel providing extensive entertainment and recreation facilities.

A supply-based structure of tourism activities developed by the World Tourism Organization (WTO) and adopted as a provisional classification by the United Nations Statistical Commission in 1993. SCITA was published jointly by the UN Statistical Commission and the WTO in the full report on recommendations on Tourism Statistics in 1994.

Advice, often a warning, issued by a government authority (e.g., foreign Office in the UK or the State Department in the USA) regarding to a country or area, in such cases as civil unrest or health hazard.

A central fund to which all Australian licensed travel agents are required to contribute. The fund is used to compensate ravellers in the event of travel agent insolvency but it does not cover losses incurred by collapse of principals.

An international agreement made in 1929 and as amended subsequently, limiting the liability of airlines for loss of or damage to baggage (luggage) and injury to or death of passengers on most international flights (including domestic portions of international flights). As a result of the Convention, airlines normally accept liability for accidents up to set limits and claimants do not have to prove negligence.

These are visitors who spend at least one night in another country. They may be long stay visitors, who stay at least three nights or short stay visitors who spend less that three nights.

Jamaica gets most of its visitors from the United States of America followed by Europe and Canada