Browsing: COVID-19 Jamaica tourism

Jamaica’s short-term rental sector navigated a cautious recovery in the first half of 2021 as COVID-19 vaccination campaigns gradually unlocked international travel, the Resilient Corridors tourism model held firm, and digital nomad programmes across the Caribbean began reshaping the accommodation market in ways that Jamaica had yet to capitalise on.

The second half of 2020 produced two events that will define Caribbean tourism and short-term rental markets for years: Jamaica’s pioneering Resilient Corridors reopening model and Airbnb’s landmark IPO, which priced at US$68 and opened trading at US$144 on 10 December 2020, minting a company valued at nearly US$100 billion from the ruins of the year’s pandemic disruption.

The first six months of 2020 delivered the most severe shock the short-term rental industry has ever experienced. COVID-19 shut Jamaica’s borders in March, eliminated Caribbean tourism overnight, triggered the most controversial mass cancellation event in Airbnb’s history, and forced the platform to raise US$2 billion in emergency capital to survive — all while Jamaica’s unregulated STR sector received no dedicated government support whatsoever.