Caribbean Destinations Continue Driving Travel and Tourism's Recovery

The Caribbean continues to lead the way for the travel industry's recovery in the wake of COVID-19, according to leading travel analytics firm ForwardKeys.

Analyzing air tickets issued up to September 26—capturing scheduled flight arrivals to that date and bookings up to the end of 2023—air traffic this year is still poised to finish 25 percent behind 2019’s pre-pandemic peak.

However, looking at the world’s most visited countries, seven of the top 10 nations boast a Caribbean coastline.

The Dominican Republic tops the list, with 14 percent more visitors set to arrive by air in 2023 than compared to 2019.

The DR is followed by Costa Rica and Aruba, both 11 percent ahead of 2019 figures. Jamaica and Puerto Rico aren't far behind, both 9 percent ahead while Colombia and Mexico saw a 5 percent jump.

Meanwhile, the Bahamas and Greece each saw a 3 percent climb to top 10th-ranked Saudi Arabia.

"The Caribbean’s success has been driven by the strong appeal of beach holidays, proximity to the world’s strongest outbound travel market, the U.S., and economic dependence of many Caribbean countries on tourism, which caused them to introduce a variety of measures to keep attracting short-haul and long-haul visitors during the pandemic and afterward," ForwardKeys said.

"Colombia’s tourism growth is mainly due to a boost in airline seat capacity, up 31 percent in 2019. Saudia Arabia’s strong showing has been fueled by government policy to invest $800 billion in making the country a world-class tourism destination, as well as efforts to increase air connectivity and removal of the attendance cap on the Haj pilgrimage."

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