Saint Lucia sees record-breaking growth in tourism with 30,408 stay-over arrivals in Oct 2024

Saint Lucia is experiencing a substantial growth in visitor arrivals, with October 2024 marking a record breaking 30,408 stay over arrivals.  

While sharing the data, the tourism authority noted that this represents a whopping 15 percent increase as compared to October 2023 and a 13% rise over October 2019.  

The officials further noted that the major drivers of this growth includes hosting of major events in Saint Lucia such as RedLAC Conference, the Republic Bank Billfish Tournament, the OECS Law Conference, and the Creole Day Celebrations. 

Not only this, but the Caribbean arrivals also saw an impressive increase of 30 percent while US arrivals increased by 25 percent as compared to the last year.  

The Saint Lucia Tourism Authority emphasised that with increased seat capacity in the US and Caribbean, expectations for more visitor arrivals this winter are high which will position the island for continued success in tourism. 

This is not the first month in 2024 that such a major growth has been recorded but August also turned out to be a major driver for tourism in Saint Lucia. During that month, the island nation recorded 34,895 visitor arrivals and this represented a 27 percent increase as compared to August 2023.  

This also marked the 8th consecutive month on month growth during this year which has been bringing significant boost not only in tourism but in the overall economy.  

IMF projects 3.7% economy growth in Saint Lucia 

Furthermore, a recent report by the International Monetary Fund has also projected a remarkable 3.7 percent growth for the economy in 2024. It said that it is because of the booming tourism sector and a revitalized construction industry.  

The IMF has also predicted that inflation is falling, and it will drop to a mere 1.3% this year. This means that people can save more this winter.  

Talking about jobs, the IMF outlined that both overall unemployment and youth unemployment have dropped significantly to decade lows. It is said that Prime Minister Philip J Pierre understands that a thriving economy creates jobs and his commitment to generating opportunities for every Saint Lucia is evident in these impressive results. 

Tourism Minister anticipates 2024 will set new records for tourism sector  

Additionally, Tourism Minister of Saint Lucia, during a recent press conference, anticipated that the year 2024 will set new records for the island’s tourism industry as a thriving cruise season is on the horizon.  

He said that the season promises to attract an influx of visitors and bolster the local economy.  

Tourism Minister Hilaire expressed optimism for the island’s cruise sector forecasting a record breaking 2024 season following a successful 2023 which saw 61498 cruise passengers across 264 ship arrivals. 

Dr Hilaire announced that Saint Lucia anticipated welcoming 825,000 cruise visitors by the end of December 2024 surpassing the previous record of 7896 passengers set in 2019 from 443 calls.  

“We expect this calendar year to be the best calendar year on record,” outlined Hilaire.  

He also provided positive projections for the 2024 2025 cruise season, predicting new highs in both cruise ship arrivals and visitor numbers also for the cruise season which is from October to May.