Since the early days of the tourism industry of Jamaica in the nineteen fifties until present day, tourism continues to be an important part of the country’s economy. As a result of sustained marketing of Jamaica’s product and even in the face of social instability due to the country’s increasing crime problem, tourists continue to visit the island in significant numbers.
Many of these visitors choose to exchange nuptials during their stay in Jamaica. In this report, all marriages which take place in hotels, villas, lodge, cottage or any other related commercial residential property are deemed to be “Hotel” marriages. By virtue of this definition, locals who get married in hotels are also included in these statistics. It is believed, however, that the percentage of locals in this group is very small.
Hotel marriages totalled 9,566 or 44.1% in 2004 while the remaining marriages totalled 12,104 or 55.9%. This was a minimal deviation from the previous year’s totals and percentages of 10,037 or 44.7% for Hotel marriages and 12,439 or 55.3%.
The parishes with the highest percentages of hotel marriages were Westmoreland, St. Ann, Hanover and St. James with 1,998 (73.5%), 2,711 (68.3%), 1,102 (65.8%) and 2,550 (62.6%) of those parishes totals respectively. In 2003, these four parishes led, however, in different positions: St. Ann with 3,128 (71.9%), Hanover with 1,204 (71.6%), Westmoreland with 1,997 (70.5%) and St. James with 2,575 (60.9%).
TABLE 16a: TOTAL MARRIAGES BY PARISH FOR HOTELS AND OTHERS AND PERCENTAGES OF TOTAL FOR 2004
Chart 7 shows the six leading parishes for hotel marriages in 2004. The parishes in descending order of number of hotel marriages are: St. Ann with 2,711, St. James with 2,550, Westmoreland with 1,998, Hanover with 1,102, St. Mary with 739 and Trelawny with 210.
In the previous year, the respective values were: St. Ann with 3,128, St. James with 2,575, Westmoreland with 1,997, Hanover with 1,204, St. Mary with 592 and Trelawny with 279.
CHART 7: HOTEL MARRIAGES 2004 OCCURRENCES IN SIX LEADING HOTEL MARRIAGE PARISHES