As we enter 2023, the recovery of the global travel industry is no longer in uncertainty. Yet, some regions appear to be well ahead of others when it comes to regaining their pre-pandemic tourist numbers.
One of the regions continuing to rebound the most rapidly is the Caribbean.
This news comes as Antigua sees a 140% increase in UK visitors and Saint Lucia reports record-breaking numbers of British tourists. What’s more, the Dominican Republic was revealed as the only country in the world to welcome more global visitors in 2022 than in 2019, according to research.
Barbados is having a British revival too, with the UK contributing to the highest number of stayover visitors on the island between January and October 2022.
In fact, during this period, Brits equated to a staggering 39% of total tourists in Barbados according to data from its Government.
Amidst the Caribbean’s surging popularity, a host of airlines are introducing new flight routes from the UK and increasing flight passenger capacities, something that tourists have reportedly been crying out for.
George Hammerton, director of Caribbean rental home provider Hammerton Barbados, explains: “There has always been a clear disconnect between the UK’s strong appetite for the Caribbean and airlines’ limited capacity to facilitate it. I have had many guests come to me saying that they had been trying to visit for a while but found themselves restricted by the availability of flights.”
British Airways will now operate extra flights to Barbados from Gatwick, flying five times a week, while Aer Lingus and Virgin Atlantic are restarting their Manchester to Bridgetown routes, Travel Weekly reveals.
In fact, the total number of available seats from Manchester to Barbados is a 50% increase on that of winter of 2019/20, which was the last ‘winter sun’ season prior to the pandemic.
This comes as good news for both the UK and Barbados, but it’s not just this Caribbean island that’s set to see a huge increase in British arrivals.
TUI is set to operate additional flights to Jamaica from Birmingham, Gatwick and Manchester, while British Airways has introduced new flights to the Bahamas, Trinidad, Tobago and Turks and Caicos for 2023, along with twice-weekly routes to Aruba and Guyana.
In light of the increased airlift capacities, the UK’s love affair with the Caribbean is only set to surge.
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