The Caribbean tourism industry, by and large, is still showing some real grit, with initial data from the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) suggesting international arrivals actually nudged up by approximately 2% during the first half of 2025, in comparison to the same timeframe back in 2024.
If you look at it, the region played host to around 18.5 million visitors between January and June 2025. This, broadly speaking, surpasses the 18.2 million figure from 2024, not to mention the 17.5 million seen way back in 2019, just before, of course, the whole pandemic thing threw a wrench into global travel. The growth rate, while maybe not quite as explosive as the immediate post-pandemic bounce, still indicates a generally positive trajectory for the sector. As Paul Garnes, who takes care of the CTO’s database, put it, “The Caribbean tourism industry showed strong resilience and continued to grow despite external challenges.”
Uneven Growth Across Destinations
That said, the recovery hasn’t really played out evenly across the entire region. Seventeen Caribbean nations and territories, a group that includes Guyana, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Curacao, Trinidad and Tobago, and even Dominica, all reported higher numbers of arrivals in 2025 when you compare them to 2024. A somewhat smaller collection of spots, though, are still trailing behind where they were before the pandemic. This highlights the often varied situations faced by these different Caribbean places as they sort of feel their way through the ever-changing global tourism scene.
Challenges in the U.S. Market and Emerging Opportunities
The U.S. is still far and away the Caribbean’s biggest source of tourists, accounting for something around 50% of the total arrivals. However, there’s been a bit of a slowdown in U.S. travel to the region in 2025, probably fueled by a mix of economic worries and the fact that people are maybe looking at cheaper or different places to go. Europe remains second in line, contributing around 14% of arrivals. Canada is pretty consistent at just under 10%.
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Regardless of that dip in demand from North America, the Caribbean’s been seeing an interesting jump in visitors from South America. This increasing diversification could definitely help wean the area off its heavy reliance on the U.S. market and, in the long run, could make things more stable. By working to attract visitors from these newer areas, the Caribbean is positioning itself to build a tourism economy that’s a bit more able to withstand shocks.
Shifts in Hospitality: Hotels vs. Short-Term Rentals
The Caribbean hospitality scene has seen some fairly noticeable changes. If we look at numbers, Aliyyah Shakeer, the CTO’s research head, notes that the average daily hotel room rate actually went up by 3% to about $424 per night. Meanwhile, hotel occupancy dipped a touch, maybe 1.4%, landing at 73%. That drop-off suggests that travelers are increasingly checking out other options for where to stay.
Short-term rentals – you know, places you find on Airbnb – have become much more common. Back in 2024, there were more than 79,500 active listings in about 24 different places. People seem to want that flexibility and cost savings. Now, traditional hotels have to think about stepping up their game and offering something special so they can stay competitive in a market that is changing really fast.