Saint Lucia records 14% surge in 2024 arrivals, surpasses pre-pandemic figures

Saint Lucia welcomed a 14% increase in total arrivals in 2024 over the past year, surpassing the last best year of 2019 by 3 percent. This marked a historic milestone as the island registered its highest ever visitor arrivals across all segments – stayover, cruise, yacht and sea arrivals.  

While sharing the data, the tourism authority noted that this signals robust growth and full recovery from the impacts of the pandemic. They added that the achievement came in spite of a reduction of 500 hotel rooms during major periods of the year.  

According to the information, the United States led the charge as it contributed a total of 57 percent of all stayover arrivals with a 20 percent increase over 2023. This was reportedly driven by targeted marketing efforts, enhanced airlift as well as optimised aircraft configurations.  

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The United Kingdom market also posted a 4 percent growth overcoming competitive challenges while the Caribbean market surged by 17%. This growth was further boosted by popular events such as Lucian Carnival, the Saint Lucia Jazz & Arts Festival, various cricket tournaments, Yamaha Sun Fest along with improved regional airlift.  

On the other hand, the Canadian market saw a slight decline of 1 percent in stayover arrivals however cruise arrivals advanced by an additional 108,529 passengers i.e 18% in 2024. With this, Saint Lucia welcomed over 800,000 visitors in 2024 aboard 334 cruises.  

The tourism authority further emphasised that December was a standout month for cruise tourism with 135,000 passengers arriving on 62 cruise ships and contributed to the total of 334 vessel visits during the past year, marking 70 more calls than the previous year.  

These hundreds and thousands of cruise passengers brought huge business to the local vendors and gave a major push to the overall economy of Saint Lucia. General Manager of Saint Lucia Cruise Port, Lancelot Arnold, expressed his happiness over the successful porting of all cruises and said that he is looking forward to collaborating with local industry stakeholders to ensure the mutual success.

He also said that with the overall increase in figures, he is anticipating a busy and exciting tourism season this year.