Caribbean & Central America - April 2024

Total stay-over tourist arrivals in the Caribbean rose by 14.3% or 4m visitors in 2023, to reach 32.2m, according to data collected by the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO), with signs that growth is continuing in 2024.

CTO general secretary Dona Regis-Prosper said total arrivals have been growing on a month-on-month basis for the last 33 months. She attributed the recovery to US demand, improved tourism infrastructure, more effective strategic marketing, and better airlift (meaning increased passenger airline connections). In terms of source markets, only the US has fully recovered to surpass its pre-coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic levels in 2019. Arrivals from Europe and Canada have grown to 88.2% and 88.1% of their 2019 levels respectively. Total arrivals from the US were up by 12.7% on the previous year to 16.3m. Arrivals from Canada were up 46.1% to 3m, while those from Europe were flat, totalling 5.2m. In terms of destinations, 11 countries are now well ahead of their pre-pandemic performance: Anguilla, Aruba, Curaçao, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, St Maarten, Turks & Caicos Islands, and US Virgin Islands.  

Hotel performance

According to the CTO, the hotel sector has been reaping some of the benefits of the tourism sector’s recovery, with the average occupancy rate rising to 65.6% in 2023 up from 61% in 2022, while the average daily spend is up 11.8% to US$330. Industry specialists say they expect further growth this year, of at least 5%-10% with more airline capacity coming onstream.