It’s not just new flights, increased hotel occupancy or a new look for Charlotte Amalie’s waterfront.
There’s a palpable buzz about the U.S. Virgin Islands right now, and boarding a packed flight from Miami to St. Thomas in mid-July is proof of that.
And at the first U.S. Virgin Islands Tourism Summit, a high-level meeting on local and regional tourism held last week, we saw a perfect example of why this destination is currently performing so well.
“We continue to be a leader in regional tourism,” said U.S. Virgin Islands Tourism Director Joseph Boschulte, who hosted the summit with U.S. Virgin Islands Governor Albert Bryan Jr. at the Westin Beach Resort in St. Thomas.
U.S. Virgin Islands Governor Albert Bryan Jr. will speak at the summit.
While local hotel association meetings are common in the Caribbean, this one was a little different: one that brought the public and private sectors side-by-side to take an in-depth look at the current state of tourism and the local industry — the kind of conference you see sometimes at the regional level, but rarely in a single Caribbean destination.
This was a model for the region, aimed at pushing the boundaries further in an industry that was already top of the regional standard by every objective measure.
And the reality is, especially since the height of the pandemic, tourism in the U.S. Virgin Islands is doing well. Very well.
Thanks to a tourism revival that began with a professionally managed and health-conscious reopening, the destination is seeing record numbers of visitors.
This year, the U.S. Virgin Islands is expected to see a 24 percent increase in air arrivals compared to 2023.
USVI Tourism Director Joseph Boschulte will provide an update on the current state of tourism in the USVI.
According to Boschulte, the first quarter of 2024 is up 26.5% compared to the first quarter of 2023.
This figure represents a 63 percent increase compared to the first quarter of 2019.
As noted at the summit, for many years, the USVI’s mainstay was cruises, not overnight tourism, but when the pandemic halted cruise traffic, the destination quickly shifted its focus to growing overnight tourism, which led to a new tourism boom for the territory.
Yacht Haven Grande in St. Thomas.
Of course, cruise tourism is back in full swing, especially in St. Croix, a relatively new cruise destination that is projected to see a 77 percent increase in arrivals this year.
“Large cruise ship arrivals continue to increase,” Boschulte said.
The summit featured everything from an overall Caribbean market look to dialogue on improving tourism products, with sessions addressing everything from SEO for local businesses to visitor booking patterns.
“We’re doing really well, but we still have a lot to do to maximize tourism,” said Bryan Jr. “But how do we maximize tourism? How do we get the best out of every tourist that comes here and make sure they see the best of us?”
