The tropical island of Antigua just broke its own cruise passenger record half a million travelers so far by 2024.
Located in the port of St. John, Antigua cruise port has had 255 ship visits with 105,281 more passengers than in the first half of 2023, becoming one of the fastest growing ports in the region.
This is the only port in the country with the berthing capacity to accommodate large international ships. Tourist and cargo ships form the main traffic, as the island’s economy is largely dependent on tourism.
These current passenger figures are “Extremely exciting for us,” said Cynthia Jacobs-Browne, Officer in Charge at Antigua Cruise Port.
The number of summer bookings is also increasing, “We are on track for a record year and we couldn’t be more proud of our team and our success right now,” Jacobs-Browne confirmed.
Other Caribbean countries are seeing record numbers of cruise passengers
From the 31.7 million tourists booked a cruise trip in 2023 in the world, more than 44% went to the Caribbean, according to the CLIA’s 2024 State of the Cruise Industry report.
Countries like Bermuda And the Bahamas received another million cruise passengers from 2023 to 2019. The Bahamas is up 40% from pre-pandemic levels, while Barbados predicts an increase of as many as 200,000 cruise travelers by the end of the year.
In the meantime, Jamaica is likely to be the country that will set the most records for tourism in the Caribbean by 2024. Authorities expect to receive more than 400,000 cruise travelers this year, said Edmund Bartlett, the country’s tourism minister.
Another country experiencing a spike in cruise visitors is Mexico and its island Cozumela well-known port of call for cruise ships that received almost a million passengers in the first two months of the year, a 22% increase compared to the same time frame in 2023.
This port in particular is the fourth most visited port in the world, with more than 2 million passengers per year.
We cannot forget it Curacaowhich is expected to receive 13% more travelers than in 2023.
“Cruise remains one of the fastest growing and most resilient sectors of tourism as it recovers [from the pandemic] faster than international tourist arrivals – and making a strong contribution to local and national economies,” said Kelly Craighead, president and CEO of CLIA.
