“Us bettering 2019 indicates that we’ve surpassed pre-pandemic levels and for us, that is quite significant,” remarked Tourism Minister Dr Ernest Hilaire as the tourist arrival figures for 2024 were finalised and released to the public.
According to official government sources, Saint Lucia celebrated a historic milestone in 2024, registering its highest-ever visitor arrivals across all segments—stayover, cruise, yacht, and sea arrivals.
The island welcomed a 14% increase in total arrivals over 2023, surpassing the previous best year of 2019 by 3%, signalling robust growth and full recovery from the pandemic’s impacts.
What appears to be a significant milestone for the Tourism Minister was that the country achieved such record-breaking figures even when hundreds of rooms were unavailable. He explained this was due to hotel closures for renovations and repairs.
“For 2024, we had over five hundred rooms out of stock due to the closure of Choc, Morgan Bay and the close of three hotels along the Vigie Beach. Despite that, we were still able to increase,” he noted.
However, Hilaire adds that later this year, these rooms will become available as hotels reopen their doors to guests: “Over the next few months, the resort at Choc will reopen and almost 350 will come back and be available to the industry.”
Saint Lucia, which is currently under a lease agreement with Global Ports Holding, is poised to see incremental increases in the number of cruise arrivals at both Port Castries and Port Soufriere. This, Dr Hilaire adds, is an increase is starting to be recorded. “For the cruise ships, we are seeing an increase in actual visits and numbers. The project at Reduit Beach is switching gears and that will add to our room stock.”
Adding to the country’s room stock, however, are small and home accommodations: “We’ve seen the home accommodation and villa sector help us tremendously in terms of offering a diverse ray of options.”
435,659 stay-over arrivals were recorded in 2024, with the United States having the lion’s share of arrivals at 57%.
