- St Vincent reports record-breaking tourism for 2024
- SVG ANNOUNCES 25% YOY GROWTH IN STAYOVER ARRIVALS FOR 2024
The island of St. Vincent and the Grenadines is emerging as the destination to watch in the Caribbean with a record-breaking growth rate in stay over arrivals for 2024, up some 25 percent from its 2023 numbers.
The announcement was made on Thursday, January 15th by the country’s Minister of Tourism, Honourable Carlos James. According to Minister James, the destination surpassed its target jumping to a 25.6 per cent increase in stayover arrivals year on year, and a 39 per cent increase over 2019, one of the country’s best years prior to the global health pandemic.
Stayover arrivals to the destination, for the first time in the country’s tourism, reached over 100,000. As at December 2024 some 101, 471 stayover visitors travelled to the multi-island State. Compared to its destination peers in the region, St. Vincent and the Grenadines has exhibited the highest average growth in stayover arrivals.
According to the tourism minister, the growth rate of the industry averaged an estimated 30.8 per cent over the last decade in total arrivals surpassing a long-term average in the range of 7 – 9 per cent annually. Given the relatively early stages of the country’s tourism development such high growth is expected to continue into the medium to long-term.
Minister James attributed the destination’s strong growth performance to a number of factors, primarily a sharp increase in airlift, with four new carriers added in Q4 of 2024; a burgeoning yachting and cruise sector; and increased hotel development and expansion such as the new Sandals St Vincent and the Grenadines Resort, Holiday Inn Express & Suites, La Vue Hotel and Mayah’s Suite among others.
For 2025, the Minister stated that the destination plans to keep this momentum going, with plans for additional room stock underway including the Marriott Hotel breaking ground this year with an added 250 rooms.
Among the new air carriers in 2024 were Sunrise, LIAT2020, WINAIR, and JetBlue Airways which increased the destination’s capacity out of JFK, New York.
“This rapid growth within our tourism sector illustrates the collective work that the ministry, tourism authority, our air and sea ports, accommodations providers and our wider partners, are doing to ensure we continue to offer an unmatched Caribbean experience for our visitors,” Minister James said.
A remarkable year
In addition to its success in visitor arrivals, the destination achieved various accolades in 2024 including the World Travel Awards’ Best Nature Destination, and Bequia was listed on CNN Travel’s ‘Best Places to Travel in 2025’.
Looking ahead to 2025, Minister James said “I am especially pleased with all of the work that’s being done and with the opportunity to witness the results of our efforts. I look forward to the destination meeting its new targets going into the new year and continuing to offer travellers a premier choice for their Caribbean holidays.”
