KINGSTON, Jamaica, Gleaner - Visitor arrivals by air and sea hit a record 3.3 million in 2012, up 7.4 per cent year-on-year, according to newly released tourism data. Arrivals in 2011 amounted to 3.07 million. Tourist visits also hit the three million mark in 2006. The bulk of last year's increa...

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Observer - THE Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) has chided the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for supporting what it described as the Government's 'scandalous raid' on the National Housing Trust (NHT) for $11 billion annually to fund the country's debt, as ...

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Gleaner - STAKEHOLDERS IN western Jamaica say Government must now provide the nation with a comprehensive growth package to complement the measures announced by Prime Minister Portia Simpson and her finance minister, Dr Peter Phillips, earlier this week. In a broadcast to the nati...

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Gleaner - AMID THE hue and cry from sections of the society in response to a $16-billion tax package passed by Parliament this week, Finance Minister Dr Peter Phillips has urged Jamaicans to be guided by the country's economic reality as well as the global financial climate. "...

(Jamaica Gleaner) Investment promotions agency, JAMPRO, has announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with American Global MD (AGMD) for the country’s first ‘five-star’ medical tourism facility valued at US$170 million. John Marcocchio, the local project manager and di...

KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC- Following Tuesday’s announcement of a J$15.9 billion (One Jamaica dollar = US$0.01 cents) tax package, Finance Minister, Dr. Peter Phillips has stated that the additional tax package should not have come as a surprise as several signals had already been given. Phillips,...

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Gleaner - This newspaper endorses the suggestion by the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) that Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member states introduce a visa regime similar to the Schengen visa of some European Union members. The system would allow seamless travel by visitors acr...

KINGSTON Jamaica, Observer - COFFEE and tea products maker Salada Foods is eyeing Africa. "We are looking at the African market as another area of potential growth for us," said Julian Rodney, Salada's general manager. "Salada has no presence there." With a particular focus on West Africa, Rodne...

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Observer - WE have a sense that the Government's version of JDX, being called the National Debt Exchange Offer, is a smart way to squeeze $17 billion annually out of the system, without sending the nation into panic. We will return to this tomorrow in this space. But at the sa...

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Observer - It was not a happy group inside the Bank of Jamaica Auditorium in Kingston yesterday morning as Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller and Minister of Finance and Planning Dr Peter Phillips hosted the launch of the National Debt Exchange (NDX). The second of its kind in t...