According to the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism (CIDOT), interest in the Cayman Islands has shown an upward trend in the first nine months of 2024.
Between January and September 2024, 330,514 stayover visitors were recoded in the islands. March saw 57,040 visitors.
Stayover visitation increased despite the challenges of an active hurricane season, which saw flight cancellations during the typically busy period of early July due to Hurricane Beryl and again due to a tropical disturbance in September.
Cruise visitor arrivals were down by 15.4%, with 792,880 cruise passengers in the first nine months of the year with 52 fewer calls in port.
Source Markets
The United States, Canada, and the UK were the top three countries for stayover visitation between January and September 2024.
Visitation from Canada and the U.S. grew by 2,6%, year over year.
The summer travel period from June to August was particularly auspicious for Canada as visitation from that country reached new records increasing by 34% compared to the previous high in 2019.
Flight Capacity
Inbound air seat capacity from Canada and the U.S. increased 11% year-to-date.
Accommodations and Length of Stay
While visitation slightly increased, visitors spent an average of 6 nights on the island, the same as in 2023, showing consistency in this metric.
Tourism revenues for the first nine months of the year increased by 10% over 2023 to approximately KYD$33.7 million. According to STR Inc., the major hotel industry intelligence database, these revenues were bolstered by an 11.2% rise in the average daily rate (ADR) of hotel rooms from January to September 2024 over the same period in 2024.
The destination reached an accommodation milestone in May 2024, surpassing 8,000 rooms for the first time ever with the addition of VIDA Cayman Islands and Hotel Indigo Grand Cayman to the destination’s hotel portfolio.
As of September, the destination recorded 8,111 rooms, representing 11,402 beds with a bed capacity of 23,301. Apartments/Condos, Hotels, and Guesthouses accounted for 48%, 35%, and 17% of accommodation stock, respectively.
“Our stayover visitation for the first nine months of 2024 is a testament to the groundwork that the Department of Tourism and our partners has laid since reopening our borders in 2023 with our investment in marketing and our strategic engagement with our airline partners to ensure a consistent increase in airlift to the destination,” said Mrs. Rosa Harris, Director of Tourism. “In anticipation of our high season, we launched an omnichannel campaign with United Airlines through its Kinective Media Platform which allows us to reach potential visitors at every stage of their booking journey and we look forward to seeing visitation increase throughout the last quarter of the year.”
