BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS-Tourism making a “stellar comeback” says Wheatley

TORTOLA, British Virgin Islands, CMC -The tourism sector in this British overseas territory is making a stellar comeback and is now outperforming global projections for the travel industry.

This is according to figures from the 2024 budget that were presented by Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley earlier this week,

The Premier said the sector has also shown remarkable resilience despite severe challenges over the last several years.

“The recovery [from the September 2017 hurricanes] was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, but from the moment we reopened our international borders in December 2020, the visitor arrivals have been consistently climbing. Tourist arrivals in 2022 were back up to 58.6% of total 2019 visitors.”

He said by the end of the year, visitor arrivals in the BVI are projected to surpass 2019 figures, with an estimated 978,052 visitors to the territory. Cruise and day trip visitors are expected to reach 736,413 persons. He added that the BVI is experiencing this growth in arrivals even as the United Nations World Tourism Organisation experts debate whether international tourism will reach 2019 levels in 2024 or 2025.

The BVI is also experiencing steady growth in the accommodation sector, directly tied to tourism. Tax revenue from hotel accommodation is expected to be US$7.18 million by year-end. This aligns with the initial estimates and is nearly US$500,000 above 2022 receipts.

Other tourism-related areas that grew in 2023 include taxes from motor vehicle rentals, expected to hit $147,764 by year-end, 3.5% above the initial projections and 11.53% more than in 2022. Cruising permits revenue to stand at $4.10 million compared to $4.19 million in the previous year.

The figure is expected to surpass $4.19 million by year-end. Tourist arrival levy revenues have been much higher than expected. For 2023, this levy is estimated at $2.24 million. This is over $545,000 above the initial estimates and a 24.07% increase over 2022 figures.

Tourism is the second largest revenue earner for the territory.