Tag Archives: The Turks and Caicos Tourist Board

Tourism holds steady in first half of 2025 with promising outlook for winter season

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From January to June 2025, the destination welcomed a total of 361,440 stayover
visitors, compared to 364,539 in the same period in 2024 (Photo of H20 Life Style Resort, Long Bay Beach)

Despite a modest one percent dip in stayover arrivals for the first half of 2025, the Turks and Caicos Islands continues to demonstrate resilience and strategic growth in its tourism industry, with early indicators pointing to a rebound in the upcoming winter season.

From January to June 2025, the destination welcomed a total of 361,440 stayover visitors, compared to 364,539 in the same period in 2024. While May and June recorded lower monthly arrivals. March remained a high- performing month, attracting 76,850 stayover guests.

Commenting on the industry’s mid-year performance, Mr Paul Pennicook, Interim CEO Consultant of Experience Turks and Caicos, acknowledged the broader global travel context, particularly in the United States.

“As we look at the data, it is very clear that the industry is being affected by external circumstances. The United States, our primary source market, according to data from ForwardKeys, shows that outbound travel to the Caribbean is down from June to October 2025 as more Americans opt for destinations in Europe and North America,” he said. “This reflects a wider year-over-year decline in total US departures. However, as we look toward the winter season, the outlook is much more promising.” Forward bookings for the winter season signal a rebound in demand, with forecasts showing a double- digit percent increases in stayover visitors in December 2025 and in January 2026 compared to the same period in 2024 and 2025.

“These are encouraging signs,” Mr Pennicook added. “Experience Turks and Caicos is working closely with our travel advisors and tour operators across all source markets to sustain and strengthen this upward trend.”

To support this effort, the organisation is undertaking robust training programmes for travel agents in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Latin America, ensuring that front-line sellers are well-equipped to promote the unique offerings of the Turks and Caicos Islands. Additionally, the destination’s new marketing initiative, “My Turks and Caicos Story,” has launched in key US cities, inviting potential tourists to visit so they can write their own story.

Meanwhile, the cruise sector continues to deliver strong results, with a notable 20 percent increase in cruise passenger arrivals over the same period in 2024. January and February were standout months, welcoming 145,079 and 139,544 cruise passengers respectively, underscoring the destination’s growing appeal among cruise travellers.

Source: https://tcweeklynews.com/

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Turks and Caicos is the Caribbean’s Fastest-Growing Tourism Destination

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Turks & Caicos Islands

February 13, 2015

MIAMI — The Turks and Caicos Islands is the fastest-growing tourism destination in the wider Caribbean region, Caribbean Journal has learned.

The Turks and Caicos Tourist Board reported a 50 percent increase in stopover arrivals to the archipelago last year, by far the highest of any destination in the Caribbean in 2014.

That was a total of 435,475 stopover arrivals in 2014, up from 290,587 stopover arrivals in 2013, according to the data.

In an interview with Caribbean Journal, Turks and Caicos Islands Tourist Board Director Ralph Higgs said the rise was due to a number of factors.

“I certainly think not least about them is we had a good push from Mother Nature — unseasonably cold weather up North was a contributing factor,” he said. “But I also think perhaps the biggest contributing factor was accessibility to our destination. We have very good airlift from most of our gateways in North America, and we’ve had additional lift from JFK and Boston. And there’s a stepped up co-op marketing campaign with the Tourist Board and some of its private sector partner. And we’ve increased our co-op relationship with many of the major wholesalers that sell Turks and Caicos. I think that they are the contributors to what is happening here.”

Higgs told CJ that the rapid growth was in line with several years of double-digit growth for the TCI, even in the wake of the financial downturn.

“We had one of our highest years in 2011,” he said. “But we were experiencing double-digit growth even during the height of the crisis — and while that growth slowed, we didn’t see any decline in growth there. I think that’s because of, generally, the way the destination has been positioned. The clientele that patronizes [the TCI], they tend to be a little more recession-proof.”

The next-fastest-growing destination in the Caribbean 2014 was Grenada, which posted growth of 18.4 percent last year, according to an analysis by Caribbean Journal.

So how does the TCI build on this level of growth?

Higgs said a major priority would be continuing to diversify the country’s source markets, and by focusing on improving what tend to be slower months for the region like August, September and October.

And that’s borne out in the numbers.

The Turk and Caicos saw one of its biggest single improvements last year in typically-slow October, when it welcomed 36,399 tourists — a whopping 131.6 percent higher than October 2013.

“The greatest periods of growth were the traditionally slow months for the region,” he said. “That supports a strategy that we continue to try and introduce to diversify our source markets, and look very closely at markets that have opposite seasons to North America. And I think we will accelerate our push in that direction. And if we can grow the summer months here then we can expand on that growth.”

He also said the TCI was working to expand its hotel product beyond the traditional hub of Providenciales to places like South Caicos, Middle Caicos, Grand Turk and Salt Cay.

“We are now concentrating on shining the spotlight on our sister islands,” he said. “If we can bring those destinations under the spotlight and people see them for what they have to offer, there may be some real possibilities for continued growth.”

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By By Alexander Britell – Caribbean Journal