Andrea Purkiss, Opposition Spokesperson on Tourism and Linkages for Jamaica, called on Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett to explain what the government is doing to stop the decline in visitor arrivals and the soaring cost of air travel to Jamaica. ^[1] Back-to-back hurricanes Beryl in 2024 and Melissa in 2025 and the collapse of budget airline Spirit Airlines resulted in a falloff in visitor arrivals to Jamaica in the first quarter of 2026. ^[2] Daryl Vaz, Jamaica's Transport Minister, said on his X account that Opposition Tourism Spokesperson Andrea Purkiss used misleading data by comparing 2026 visitor data to 2024 and excluding external shocks. ^[3] Purkiss cited the example of a Jamaican woman in Fort Lauderdale being quoted US$3,700 for a 90-minute flight to bury her mother, calling it a wall rather than a fare. ^[4] Purkiss stated that checks in mid-August showed American Airlines quoting US$3,744 for a return flight between Montego Bay and Miami, with JetBlue's Fort Lauderdale flights repeatedly sold out. ^[5] The Opposition reported that Sangster International Airport handled 26.7% fewer passengers in the first half of the year, overall stopover arrivals fell 23.5% to 1.13 million, and US arrivals dropped 27.9%. ^[6] Andrea Purkiss, Jamaica's Opposition Spokesperson on Tourism and Linkages, urged Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett to detail plans to stem the decline in visitor arrivals and the rising cost of air travel to Jamaica in 2026. ^[7]