The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) has released its annual Caribbean Tourism Performance Review, in which it was revealed that the region saw a 14.3% increase in international arrivals, specifically overnight stays. According to the CTO’s Secretary-General, Dona Regis-Prosper, the growth is in line with what the organization had predicted for the region. And, as was shared last year, the increase is a testament to the Caribbean being one of the fastest-recovering regions in the world when it comes to travel.
“Based on preliminary data provided so far by the destinations in the Caribbean, tourist visits were approximately 32.2 million – about four million more than in 2022,” said Regis-Prosper, according to Loop Caribbean News.
In addition to several countries seeing significant post-pandemic recovery, many also reported new record levels for tourist arrivals in a single year.
The US Remains the Dominant Source Market for Caribbean Tourism
Photo by Vonecia Carswell on Unsplash
Though Canadian and European markets are still in recovery, the CTO says that the US market has fully rebounded. In fact, the region saw 16.3 million overnight arrivals from the United States, alone.
Boats on the shores of Jamaica by Caspar Rae/Unsplash
International travel, though, isn’t the only kind of travel seeing consistent growth post-pandemic. There was also an approximate 3.6% increase in regional travel. In total 2023 saw 1.6 million trips by Caribbean residents to countries within the region. This was a 0.3 million increase from the previous year.
Similar: Belize Sees Record-Breaking Tourism Arrivals for Early 2024
Featured: Placencia, Belize. Photo by the Belize Tourism Board
