Caribbean Hosted Record 30 Million Visitors in 2017

This past fall's devastating fall hurricanes largely failed to halt Caribbean destinations' surging visitor growth.

Countries tracked by the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) surpassed a collective 30 million overnight visitor arrivals for the first time in the organization's history in 2017, CTO officials announced Thursday.

"Sustained economic growth in all of our major source markets" drove the increase, said Hugh Riley, CTO's secretary general, as arrivals in Caribbean destinations exhibited strong growth prior to the impact of Hurricanes Irma and Maria.

CTO officials predict 2018 visitor arrivals in the region will increase of between two to three percent over 2017.

Specifically, Caribbean overnight arrivals grew by 4.8 percent during the first-half of 2017, slowing by 1.7 percent in the second half due to the impact of hurricanes Irma and Maria. Overall 2017 Caribbean visitor arrivals increased by 1.7 percent compared with 2016, totaling 30.1 million visits and marking the region's eighth consecutive year of visitor growth.

Riley noted the Caribbean's 2017 growth rate was slower than the average global growth rate of 6.7 percent, however. The Caribbean's share of global visits in 2017 shrunk 0.1 percentage points to 2.3 percent.

Nevertheless, "Despite the challenges, more visitors arrived in the Caribbean in 2017 and they spent more," he said.

Several Caribbean destinations recorded double-digit visitor growth increases in 2017, including Saint Lucia (11 percent), Belize (10.8 ) and Bermuda (10.3 ). CTO's "other" Caribbean destination group-which includes Cancun and Cozumel, Mexico; Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Suriname and accounts for nearly half of all arrivals to the region-recorded a six percent year-over-year increase.

Meanwhile, hurricane-impacted countries recorded declines ranging from seven to 18 percent. The Caribbean's U.S. territories, Dutch Caribbean and Eastern Caribbean destinations each reported visitor arrival declines ranging from 3.6 percent to 7.9 percent during 2017.

The Caribbean's primary source market, the U.S., grew by 0.5 percent to reach 14.9 million visits to the region, a performance Riley attributed to "solid economic growth, low unemployment rate and high consumer confidence in the U.S."

Arrivals from Europe totaled 5.8 million, a 6.2 year-over-year increase, which was strongest growth among the main markets.

Despite the positive 2017 results the region faces a number of challenges, highlighted by the region's ongoing recovery from the fall hurricanes.

"As a region, we must acknowledge that to rebuild, develop and sustain the infrastructure and the image of the Caribbean is an immense task," Riley said. "Resources will need to be developed, and realistic attention will need to be paid to the length of time it takes to rebuild an economy and repair a brand seriously affected by natural disasters."

Other goals among the region's stakeholders include "reinforcing the value and the attributes of the Caribbean brand, educating the public and the travel industry on the geography of the Caribbean, and generating demand for the region's tourism product," Riley said.

He also emphasized the crucial role tourism plays in Caribbean economies: "Tourism is a serious business. It employs 13.7 percent of the people in the Caribbean, and it contributes from seven percent to more than 80 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) across the region. Tourism is the business that delivers foreign exchange every time a plane lands and a cruise ship docks."

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