Jamaica Climbs Four Spots in the Travel & Tourism Development Index

Jamaica has moved up four places in the World Economic Forum’s Travel & Tourism Development Index (TTDI) 2026, from 82nd to 78th among 110 economies evaluated. 

Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, welcomed the development, noting that the improved ranking reflects the country’s continued efforts to strengthen the competitiveness, resilience and sustainability of Jamaica’s tourism sector.

“Moving from 82nd to 78th is not just four places — it is validation. For ten years I have watched this Index: 76th in 2015, 69th in 2017 — our best — 76th in 2019, 82nd in 2024, now 78th in 2026. The old index measured what we built — airports and hotel rooms. The new Beyond Tourism index measures what we survived — people, resilience, and retention. Jamaica built that,” said Bartlett.

The index was produced in collaboration with Zurich Insurance Group.

Jamaica recorded the largest rank improvement of any economy in the Americas and is the only one in the region to climb four places. The country’s score rose 2.3% over the 2024 and it now stands two places higher than in 2019. 

The TTDI measures the conditions that enable sustainable and resilient tourism development, such as infrastructure, connectivity, digital readiness, safety and security, and natural and cultural resources. It does not measure visitor arrivals or tourism earnings.

“This movement in the global competitiveness rankings is an important indicator that Jamaica is moving in the right direction. To rise four places in a highly competitive global tourism environment demonstrates that the investments we are making in our people, infrastructure, visitor experience, connectivity, resilience and destination development are producing measurable progress,” said Minister Bartlett.

He added that Jamaica’s tourism strategy is increasingly focused not only on attracting more visitors, but on ensuring that the destination remains competitive, resilient and relevant in a rapidly changing international marketplace.

“Tourism competitiveness today is about much more than sun, sea and sand. It is about the quality of our human capital, the strength of our infrastructure, our ability to innovate, our digital readiness, sustainability, connectivity and the overall value proposition that we offer to visitors,” Bartlett said.

The four-place improvement comes as Jamaica continues to pursue a strategic transformation of its tourism sector under its Tourism 3.0 framework, placing greater emphasis on innovation, human capital development, resilience, sustainability and creating stronger linkages between tourism and the wider Jamaican economy.