Why Europe’s Travel Giant TUI is Suddenly Pivoting Hard to Latin America and Jamaica
Europe’s largest tour operator, TUI Group, is aggressively expanding into Latin America and Jamaica as announced at FITUR 2026 in Madrid on January 22, leveraging its airlines, hotels, and digital platforms for new routes, packages, and marketing. Jamaica Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett met TUI executives to boost connectivity from Latin America and Eastern Europe, targeting middle-class growth, trade ties, and preferences for culture, nature, and all-inclusives. European arrivals are anticipated to increase with 2025 arrivals being up thanks to new flights on Portugal (World2Fly) and Switzerland (Edelweiss), and next year (2026) even higher with the diversification to reduce North America dependence. With the volatility, TUI has a footprint, which helps Jamaica.
FITUR 2026 Partnership Details
Negotiated flights, campaigns and Latin America (outbound growing) and Eastern Europe packages.
Market Diversification Strategy
Jamaica lowers the US/Europe reliance; the network of TUI increases the Latin accessibility through Brazil and Mexico gateway.
Official Social Media Post
Jamaica Gleaner covered the TUI talks via embedded Instagram post:
