Antigua And Barbuda Records Over One Million Visitor Arrivals In 2024

  • Antigua and Barbuda celebrated a record-breaking tourism year in 2024, with visitor arrivals surpassing 1.2Mn, marking a 17% increase relative to 2023, Minister of Tourism Charles “Max” Fernandez announced at a press conference. Tourism accounts for 70% of the sovereign’s GDP, and approximately 12,000 jobs or 34% of its employment is directly linked to tourism.
  • The twin-island destination achieved a 10% growth compared to its previous record year in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic. Fernandez underlined the country’s strategic positioning as an emerging Caribbean hub, noting new airline partnerships. “We now have LIAT back up in the air. We have Sunshine Airways looking to be headquartered in Antigua, advancing our goal of making Antigua & Barbuda a regional hub,” he added.
  • Meanwhile, Colin James, the CEO of the Tourism Authority, detailed unprecedented airline service expansion across major markets. “For the first time ever, American Airlines had daily flights out of Charlotte, North Carolina. Delta launched daily flights out of Atlanta, United from New York, and JetBlue from JFK” James said.
  • The destination saw particularly strong growth from the Caribbean market, with Trinidad emerging as the largest regional source market. The US remained the primary market overall, delivering 173,000 visitors in 2024, followed by the UK and Europe with 84,000 arrivals.
  • Looking ahead to 2025, the twin island nation aims to position itself as the Caribbean’s culinary capital. “We’ve set a target to make this destination the new culinary event capital of the Caribbean,” James said as he outlined plans for an expanded May culinary calendar featuring local and international cuisine and events. The tourism outlook includes new developments, with Fernandez indicating new properties will be added.
  • However, he cautioned about potential challenges in 2025, including economic uncertainties in source markets and the need to manage tourism growth sustainably, so as not to negatively impact local residents.

(Source: Antigua Observer)