The Caribbean saw a drop in the number of UK visitors last year, which it is blaming on the sluggish economy combined with a rise in air passenger duty.
Visitor numbers from the UK dipped to below one million, a 1.4% drop year on year, but the fall was less than from Europe as a whole, which was 3.75% down.
The Caribbean was boosted by a rise in visitor spending last year, which was up 2.3% year on year to an estimated US$28.1 million, despite an overall 1.8% drop in arrivals.
Chairman of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation Beverly Nicholson-Doty said room rates, revenue per available room and occupancy rates were all up last year.
"There wasn’t a single month during 2013 that any of these indicators fell below 2012 levels," she said.
The islands also saw a marked increase in arrivals from South America, up 13% to 1.5 million, and a 2.1% rise in travel within the region to 1.6 million.
Cruise passenger visits were up 2.7% to 21.8 million.
"It’s evident that the atmosphere of despair has lifted and the Caribbean anticipates an improved performance in 2014," said Nicholson-Doty.
"It’s generally expected that global economies will perform better in 2014, with the International Monetary Fund predicting 1% growth across Europe and 2.8% in the US. The demand for travel, therefore, will remain buoyant.
As a result, tourist arrivals to the Caribbean are expected to rise between 2% and 3% in 2014."
Cruise arrivals, she added, were likely to rise by about 3% in 2014.
