Technology in Tourism · Jamaica-first
Every ship is a wave of opportunity. Catch it.
PortPulse matches each cruise ship's exact in-port window to vetted local Jamaican operators — so passengers book authentic experiences that fit their time ashore, and the money stays in Jamaica.
Booking & passenger figures from FCCA/BREA 2024 [1]
The gap
Cruise arrivals are surging. Local earnings aren't keeping up.
Jamaica's ports are busier than ever, but passengers default to high-commission tours sold on the ship. Local operators stay invisible behind the gangway, and most of the spend sails away.
The solution
A booking engine built around the in-port clock
Passengers enter their ship and date. PortPulse shows only experiences that fit their exact window and get them back to the pier on time — booked in-app, backed by a return-to-ship guarantee.
Schedule-aware curation
Live ship-call data turns a 4–7 hour window into a feasible, timed itinerary — never a tour you can't finish in time.
Vetted, licensed operators
Every operator carries a JTB/TPDCo licence badge — including community guides and micro-businesses the big platforms ignore.
Back-to-ship guarantee
Removes the #1 fear that pushes passengers to overpriced ship tours: missing the boat.
Demand signal for operators
Free Pulse Feed dashboard shows operators which ships are coming and how busy each day will be, so they can plan. Ship schedules sourced from published PAJ data[5]. See it live →
How it works
From gangway to local experience in four taps
Pick your ship
Enter your cruise line, ship and date. PortPulse pulls your exact arrival and departure window.
See what fits
Browse curated, time-boxed experiences that guarantee you're back at the pier on time.
Book & pay in-app
Secure your spot with a vetted local operator — covered by the return-to-ship guarantee.
Money stays local
Your spend goes to Jamaican SMEs at a fair commission, not a 50% cruise-line cut[3].
The impact
Built to do exactly what Jamaica's tourism strategy is asking for
PortPulse operationalizes national policy: higher per-passenger onshore spend, more bookings flowing to local SMEs, and a measurable lift in the tourism dollar Jamaica keeps.
More money kept in Jamaica
Redirecting even a slice of the ~US$22–30M in annual excursion commissions back to local operators moves the retention needle the Ministry is targeting toward 50 cents per dollar[2].
Local SMEs get reach
Community guides, craft vendors and micro-operators get digital distribution to 1.16M+ disembarking passengers for the first time.
A demand-intelligence layer
Anonymised flow data can help PAJ, the Ministry and TPDCo plan ports and target support — a public-good asset that doesn't exist today.
“Passengers who have not pre-booked tours can now book last-minute excursions with local operators directly at the port.”[4]
— The World Bank, naming the exact fix PortPulse delivers, “Rethinking Caribbean Tourism,” 2025 [4]
Sources & data
Every statistic on this page is cited
Figures match the evidence base in our TEF incubator application. Derived estimates are labelled as such.
- [1]FCCA / BREA, Economic Contribution of Cruise Tourism 2024, Vol. II (Jamaica chapter). www.f-cca.com/downloads/2024-Caribbean-Cruse-Analysis-Vol-II.pdf
- [2]Jamaica Observer, From leakages to linkages (Min. Bartlett on tourism-dollar retention), 2022. www.jamaicaobserver.com/2022/07/30/from-leakages-to-linkages/
- [3]New Zealand Cruise Association, Ways to Sell to Cruise Passengers 2024 (commission range). newzealandcruiseassociation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Ways-to-sell-to-Cruise-Passengers-2024.pdf
- [4]World Bank, Rethinking Caribbean Tourism, 2025. documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/099042325223521960/pdf/P179920-7b2fc458-7ac9-4b8d-a2be-fdacf129023a.pdf
- [5]Port Authority of Jamaica, Cruise Shipping (published ship schedules). portauthorityofjamaica.azurewebsites.net/cruise-shipping/
- [6]Minister Bartlett, projected 24.3% cruise growth for 2025/26 season, Oct 2025. www.facebook.com/IrieFmJA/posts/tourism-minister-ed-bartlett-says-jamaica-is-projecting-43-million-total-visitor/1367317914751236/
Investors · Partners · Operators
Help Jamaica catch the wave
PortPulse is a Jamaica-first venture — software-first, already in build, and designed to scale across the Caribbean. We're applying to the Tourism Enhancement Fund's Innovation Incubator, and we're open to connecting with investors, tourism partners, and local operators who want to keep more cruise spend in Jamaica.