The meals scene in Christiansted. The brand new-look downtown in Charlotte Amalie. The beautiful villas in St John. The sand on Buck Island. The festivals, nicely, all over the place. The US Virgin Islands has been main the Caribbean journey renaissance, and now the vacation spot has damaged yet one more report.
The territory’s two major airports, Cyril E. King in St Thomas and Henry E. Rohlsen in St Croix welcomed 932,265 passengers final 12 months — a brand new report for the USVI and over 100,000 passengers greater than the earlier report set throughout the pandemic.
That represented a 16.5 % improve over 2023, one of many quickest tourism progress charges within the Caribbean proper now.
“As a vacation spot, we proceed to discover, elevate, and enhance, which additional helps the continuing purpose to construct upon our dedication to be a premier Caribbean vacation spot,” USVI Tourism Commissioner Joseph Boschulte, whose modern methods have helped steward the USVI towards this progress, mentioned in a press release offered to Caribbean Journal.
The USVI additionally had one other sturdy 12 months for cruise, with over 1.77 million passenger arrivals and a 9.8 % bounce over 2023 — with a lot of inaugural visits on manufacturers like Virgin Voyages, Disney, Princess Cruises and Royal Caribbean, amongst others.
In case you’ve been following the Caribbean lately, it’s not a shock — the USVI has been seeing dramatic progress in new flights for many of the final half decade, and has been cultivating a brand new model picture throughout the all-important US market — with some new methods that embody some intelligent cross-partnerships with sports activities groups just like the Boston Pink Sox and New York Jets, amongst others.
Are you planning to a trip to the USVI proper now?
The vacation spot’s inns have by no means been higher, from the brand new Pink Palm boutique resort (rooms from $305) to chill boutique choices like The Fred in fast-developing Frederiksted.
That’s together with the return of St Thomas’ largest resort, the Frenchman’s Reef, which is comprised of two inns: the Westin Seaside Resort (rooms from $914 per evening) and the right-on-the-sand Buoy Haus, which has rooms for $1,249 proper now.
We actually preferred each of these resorts once we just lately stayed on the property (significantly the Buoy Haus for its toes-in-the-sand vibe), and so they’re only a slice of the more and more diversifying resort product you’ll find within the USVI (together with the stunning private-island vacation spot, the Lovango Resort, which has been getting rave critiques in its distinctive setting simply off the coast of St John. Rooms from $1,195.
As we mentioned, it’s by no means been simpler to fly to the USVI (together with a brand new connection to St Croix on JetBlue). In case you’re flying to St Thomas, you’ll find quite a few choices at Google Flights.
