Caribbean Tourism Revenue Continues Rising

Tourist arrivals to the Caribbean region may be hiked by 4% to 5% this year, according to the Barbados-based Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO).

This follows high growth in 2012 when the Caribbean islands welcomed 25 million visitors — 5.4 % more than in 2011 and the highest for five years.

“All the signs suggest Caribbean tourism is rallying,” said CTO President Beverly Nicholson-Doty of the U.S. Virgin Islands. “This optimism is based on the positive signs of growth following earlier down years. We see arrival numbers rising, particularly out of North America. Hotel revenues are moving in the right direction, albeit with moderate acceleration, and we see tourist spend on the increase.”

In 2012, tourists to the Caribbean splurged $27.5 billion, 3.6% more than in 2011 and for the third consecutive year tourism expenditures went up.

The CTO said this marks the return of aggregate spending by tourists to levels seen before the global economic recession of 2008-09.