Jamaica moved up four places to rank 78th in the World Economic Forum's 2026 Travel & Tourism Development Index, the largest gain recorded by any country in the Americas.

Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett attributed the improvement to sustained investments in resilience, infrastructure, people and innovation, framing the result as evidence of the country's long-term competitiveness strategy.

The Travel & Tourism Development Index measures the factors and policies that make destinations attractive and viable for tourism development, rather than tracking visitor volumes or receipts. For sellers of travel, a ranking shift of this kind functions less as a demand signal and more as a marker of destination-level conditions — infrastructure quality, workforce capability and policy stability — that shape product delivery and long-haul program feasibility.

Jamaica's gain puts it ahead of regional peers on momentum, though the island remains outside the index's top tier. A four-place climb from 82nd signals directional progress in the enabling environment for tourism, even as the country continues to compete on the strength of airlift, resort inventory and brand recognition rather than index position alone.

Bartlett has made resilience a centerpiece of his tourism policy, and the ministry has consistently positioned index movement as a validation of that agenda. The 2026 result gives the minister a concrete data point: the single largest ranking improvement in the Americas region.

For tour operators and distribution partners working Caribbean programs, the ranking offers supporting evidence that Jamaica's destination infrastructure is strengthening in step with its marketing. The practical test will be whether future index editions show continued movement upward, and whether that trajectory translates into measurable gains in arrivals, length of stay and visitor spending.