Jamaican tourism is celebrating the latest in a series of exciting milestones, with more than one million visitors reaching the island during the first six months of this year.

This is the first time the island has welcomed so many visitors during such a short period, illustrating the robust strength of the recovery in the Caribbean region following the global recession.

Data from the Jamaica Tourism Organisation (JTO) reveal a total of 1,010,896 foreigner visitors passed through the island between January 1st and June 30th this year.

This represents a 4.1 per cent increase on the figures for the same period of 2009, with earnings from visitor arrivals also up by 2.4 per cent to US$1.9 billion.

However, the ministry says during the period both cruise passenger arrivals as well as earnings from the sub-sector declined.

Delays with the new Falmouth cruise terminal may further hinder the future development of this sector insiders have warned.

However, the tourism minister Ed Bartlett expressed his optimism Jamaica’s tourism performance will continue to improve.

According to Bartlett, there were positive signs in the months of July, August and September.

He further says the increased arrivals and earnings come at a time when the worldwide recession is taking a toll on economies of the world and during a period when Jamaica had its own civil challenges.

The island will also be celebrating later today when the World Travel Awards celebrates its Americas Gala Ceremony at the Sandals Whitehouse European Village & Spa.

World Mobi

Also in the Caribbean today, World Mobi launched its new city guide to Kingston. 

World Mobi offers the most comprehensive mobile travel guides available, with over 800 cities in 200 countries listed. Each is developed by the World Mobi team to combine into a single global travel directory.

However, each city retains its own mobile identity via a dedicated domain. Already on offer are Brussels.mobi, London.Mobi, Sanfrancisco.Mobi and Sydney.Mobi.

Kingston.Mobi is the latest in this illustrious line up, offering click to call functionality - which means no scribbling down telephone numbers.

Most entries are also linked to websites where users can quickly access more detailed information if needed.

Other key features include information on accommodation, restaurants, attractions, entertainment, nightlife, shopping, transport, and weather.

City.Mobi guides include user reviews and traveller utilities such as a translation guide, currency converter, news and local weather guide.