The Cayman Islands are experiencing a steady uptick in visitation, with the destination recording 34,882 total stayover arrivals in May 2024, an increase of 452 visitors compared to May 2023.
To date, the country has welcomed 209,135 visitors reaching 90% of 2019’s total stayover visitation between January and May 2024. This figure marks the second highest visitation recorded for a calendar year after 2019 and represents a 7.3% increase from 2023.
The United States continues to be the largest source market for stayover visitors in the Cayman Islands, contributing 83.2% of total visitation. In May 2024, US visitors accounted for an 84.7% share of total arrivals, closely on par with the 85.2% in May 2023.
Canada remains the second largest source of visitors for the destination at 7.5%, followed by Europe at 4.8%, maintaining similar figures from 2023. Notably, arrivals from Canada grew by 34.1% in May 2024 compared to May 2023, representing a 5.2% share of total stayover arrivals, up from 4.0% in May 2023.
Arrivals from the UK and Ireland totalled 7,041 for January-May 2024, a 3.9% increase from 6,778 in 2023, maintaining a 3.4% share of total year-to-date stayover arrivals.
Visitation from Continental Europe also saw a substantial rise in January-May 2024, with arrivals up 14.8% from 2023, contributing a 1.4% share of total year-to-date stayover arrivals, up from 1.3% in 2023. Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and France were the top European countries for visitation in May 2024. Latin American arrivals were up 2% in May 2024, but impressively, South American arrivals increased by 25.8% compared to May 2023.
Increasing Airlift
May 2024 was an auspicious month for inbound seat capacity and flights to the Cayman Islands. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) there were 363 flights in May 2024, up 31 incremental flights from May 2023.
Inbound airline seats from the US, UK, and Canada rose by 7% from May 2023, jumping from 57,121 to 61,051 in May 2024. The most sizable increase of inbound seats was from Canada, which saw a 65% rise with 2,331 more seats compared to May 2023. This growth in number of flights and inbound airline seats sets a positive outlook for the future with Summer 2024 bringing more flights to the destination:
• Starting June 2024, American Airlines will continue its daily summer service from Dallas and add a Saturday flight from 4 June to 5 August, 2024.
• Southwest Airlines has launched a daily service between Orlando and Grand Cayman as of 4 June 2024.
• JetBlue Airways will add a second flight from Boston on Mondays starting 28 October 2024 providing visitors the option to travel nonstop to Grand Cayman on Saturdays and Mondays.
• Sun Country Airlines will begin offering twice-weekly flights from Minneapolis to Grand Cayman from 20 December, 2024, to 12 April, 2025.
• Starting 20 December 2024 Delta will be offering three weekly flights from Minneapolis-St. Paul to Grand Cayman
Commenting on the growth in visitation in Q1, increased airline seat capacity from key source markets and new upcoming flight services to Grand Cayman, Mrs. Rosa Harris, Director of Tourism shared, “We are pleased to see the steady growth in visitation to the destination continue from Q1.The Cayman Islands is an attractive destination in the Western Caribbean and our tourism product offering is further enhanced by additional room stock with the opening of boutique hotel VIDA Cayman Islands in Barkers West Bay and Hotel Indigo Grand Cayman on Seven Mile Beach. With a successful combo of new accommodations and increased flights services, The Cayman Islands Department of Tourism anticipates that that our tourism performance will continue on a strong recovery trend.”
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