Surmounting an ¡°unusually active hurricane season¡± in 2024 which forced the closure of Owen Roberts International Airport due to hurricane Beryl in early July, the Cayman Islands hosted 437,842 overnight, land-based visitors in 2024, a two percent increase over 2023, said Cayman Islands Department of Tourism (CIDOT) officials in a statement.

The Caribbean nation posted particularly strong visitation numbers in March 2024, producing the Cayman Islands¡¯ second highest number of monthly arrivals in the destination¡¯s history with 57,040 overnight travelers, said CIDOT officials.

December, during which the Cayman Islands hosted 52,046 arrivals, also witnessed also generated higher arrivals, representing the second-highest number of visitors for December in recorded history and a year-over-year increase of 4.3 percent.

Two new hotel properties debuted in Cayman Islands in 2024, the VIDA Cayman Islands and Hotel Indigo Grand Cayman. The resorts added 578 new rooms to the destination, bringing the island¡¯s total to 8,356.

The destination¡¯s robust traveler arrivals generated increased revenues for Cayman Island hotels, which posted a nine percent year-over-year increase in hotel room average daily rate (ADR) between January and November of 2024, according to research firm STR.

Increased airline capacity also helped to drive 2024¡¯s higher overnight visitor numbers. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Cayman airlift increased eight percent year-over-year between January and December of 2024, with 884,279 airline seats. There were 5,342 flights into the destination during the period, an increase of 461 flights over 2023.

In the U.S., the Cayman Islands¡¯ largest traveler source market, the air capacity uptick was driven by United Airlines with expanded service from Newark, Washington D.C. and Houston, said CIDOT. Delta Airlines also increased its flights from Atlanta while JetBlue Airways increased its Cayman Islands capacity departing from Boston.

¡°It was gratifying to see such?positive growth?in our stayover visitation numbers for 2024,¡± said Kenneth Bryan, the Cayman Islands¡¯ deputy premier and minister of tourism. ¡°Despite our strong results, globally the tourism sector faces economic, geopolitical and climate challenges. As an industry, locally we are not immune to these global shocks.¡±

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