Caribbean tourism is returning to pre-pandemic levels with no end to growth in sight

by Bob Curley
Last updated: 3:50 PM ET, Wednesday May 29, 2024

Caribbean tourism has largely recovered from the pandemic-induced downturn of the early 1920s and – if the plans announced by some of the region’s biggest destinations go ahead – growth in the number of resorts, visitors and The number of cruise ships is certain to increase even further in the coming years. decade.

That’s according to leaders who spoke at the annual Caribbean Travel Marketplace held May 20 to 23 in Montego Bay, Jamaica.

Nicola Madden-Grieg, chair of event sponsor the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA), told attendees that the Caribbean surpassed its pre-pandemic arrival figures in 2023 when 33.2 million visitors came to the region, an increase of 14.3 percent compared to 2022.

“Experts predicted that the Caribbean would not recover until 2025-2026,” Madden-Grieg said. “We proved them wrong.”

With 46 new hotels in the pipeline and another 14,000 hotel rooms already under construction, Caribbean tourism is poised for 5 to 10 percent growth in the coming years, she said, warning: “We need to look at airlift and infrastructure to accommodate growth and control overtourism.”

This last message was not lost on conference participants, who witnessed first-hand the limitations of the Caribbean tourism infrastructure during the week they spent in Jamaica. One day, a car accident on Montego Bay’s main coastal road caused heavy traffic in the late afternoon.

On another day, thunderstorms knocked out the lights at the Montego Bay Convention Center, forcing a switch to emergency generator power. And some attendees staying at a nearby five-star resort — one of the conference’s sponsors — were left without running water for three days, a problem that staff said was the fault of the local municipality and not the hotel.

Nevertheless, Jamaican tourism officials presented the most ambitious tourism growth plans of any destination at the conference. Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett told attendees that 2,000 new hotel rooms will open in Jamaica by 2024, including at the new Princess Grand Jamaica on Green Island (between Lucea and Negril), the Riu Palace Aquarelle in Falmouth and the Unico Hotel in Montego . Bay.

In total, Jamaica has 15,000 to 20,000 new hotel rooms planned over the next five to 10 years, Bartlett says, including 10,000 in the Montego Bay area alone. “Jamaican tourism is experiencing an unprecedented boom,” generating $4.38 billion in revenue in the 2023-2024 financial year, Bartlett said.

Beautiful Saint Lucia. (Photo credit: Bruce Parkinson)

Mass tourism is of course nothing new to Jamaica. Perhaps more surprising are the plans unveiled by Guibion ​​Ferdinand, Parliamentary Secretary of Saint Lucia’s Ministry of Tourism, who said that the destination – known for its natural beauty, laid-back atmosphere and luxury resorts for couples, but in March 2024 with the most monthly arrivals in the island’s history – would add an additional 2,000 hotel rooms by 2025. Saint Lucia currently has approximately 4,700 rooms, making its tourism expansion plan unprecedented in the island’s history.

“Expanding our hotel capacity is a strategic move to diversify and enhance Saint Lucia’s tourism offering, in addition to existing hotels, resorts and independent accommodation products,” said Saint Lucia Tourism Minister Ernest Hilaire.

“While our adults-only luxury resorts have firmly established Saint Lucia as a premier destination, we recognize the need to serve a broader range of travelers. This expansion goes beyond the hotel sector (and) will include a mix of family-friendly and wellness-focused properties, eco-lodges, boutique hotels and independent intimate properties, offering options for every type of visitor and budget.”

Saint Lucia also plans to expand cruise port facilities in Castries to allow for the landing of an additional two to three large cruise ships per day, bringing approximately 10,000 to 12,000 passengers onto the streets of Saint Lucia’s capital.

“This initiative is designed to transform the aesthetic appeal of our city, boost the local economy by increasing visitor spending, create jobs and support local businesses, while ensuring we manage growth sustainably,” said Hilaire. “We are investing in significant upgrades to our road network, improving utilities and expanding public services to support new hotel developments and increased visitor numbers.”

Hilaire said balancing this significant growth with sustainability is central to Saint Lucia’s tourism strategy. “Our goal is to ensure that every visitor can enjoy the beauty of Saint Lucia without compromising the ecological integrity of the island or the quality of life of our residents,” he said, noting the recent enactment of the Tourism Development Act of the island, which provides a framework for growth that is “resilient, inclusive and sustainable,” Hilaire said.

Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos Islands. (Photo Credit: Mikolaj Niemczewski/Adobe)

Saint Lucia is not the only Caribbean destination looking to manage growth through policy. Turks and Caicos, which has seen a 227 percent increase in visitor numbers since 2019, has begun a study into the carrying capacity of tourism. Tourism Minister Josephine Connolly told reporters this would be a first for the region.

“We refuse to compromise our natural beauty for growth,” Connolly said as he outlined development plans that would bring major hotel projects to the smaller sister islands and busy Providenciales. The first include the luxury Salterra resort and spa set to open in South Caicos in February 2025 (and aided by scheduled American Airlines flights that would be the island’s first direct international service “in many years,” according to Connolly.

Elsewhere, we see Antigua and Barbuda, which saw a more modest 6 percent growth in visitor numbers between 2022 and 2023, and Anguilla, which saw a 22.2 percent increase in visitors in the first quarter compared to 2023 and by 24.4 percent compared to the same period in 2019. , are vying to become the first Caribbean destinations to run entirely on renewable energy, officials said.

“We are going to become the most sustainable destination in the region,” said Haydn Hughes, Anguilla’s Minister of Information and Tourism. “We want to completely wean ourselves from fossil fuels.”

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