In Caribbean region, the travel and tourism sector contributed more than 60 billion U.S. dollars to the gross domestic product in 2022. Among all listed Caribbean territories, the Dominican Republic and Cuba registered the highest total contributions of this sector to the GDP.

Antigua and Barbuda was the Caribbean economy that relied the most on travel and tourism in 2022, with this sector accounting for more than 90 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP). Aruba followed that year as the Caribbean island with the second-largest share of GDP from tourism.

In 2023, the combined contribution of the travel and tourism sector to the gross domestic product (GDP) in Latin America and the Caribbean amounted to approximately 714 billion U.S. dollars. Based on the contribution value in constant 2023 prices, the travel and tourism sector is expected to grow by 3.9 percent in the following year.

In 2022, the contribution of the travel and tourism sector to the total employment in the Caribbean region was nearly 15 percent. Nevertheless, only seven out of the 22 listed Caribbean islands registered percentages below that average that year. In contrast, the travel and tourism sector contributed more than 90 percent of Antigua and Barbuda's total employment, the highest percentage in the region that year. Aruba recorded a share of tourism employment of over 85 percent.

The Caribbean is one of the world's dream vacation destinations: islands, white sand, blue sea and lots of sun. In 2021, this region registered a little over 18 billion U.S. dollars in expenditure by international tourists – a moderate recovery after the drop caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Due to its geographical position, Mexico is the main recipient of tourism from the United States in Latin America. In 2023, there were nearly ** million U.S. overnight tourists in Mexican territory – more than ** percent of the total U.S. tourism volume in Latin America. In that same year, around **** million U.S. Americans traveled to the Caribbean.

In 2021, the travel and tourism sector in Antigua and Barbuda contributed to approximately 84 percent of the country's total employment. This Caribbean country was the most tourism-dependent island in the region in terms of employment that year. Aruba ranked second in the list, with a contribution above 80 percent.

In 2022, the region of the Commonwealth Caribbean received the highest number of international tourist arrivals at almost *** million. In second place, the U.S. territories of the Caribbean received almost *** million visitors.

In 2021, 61 percent of the total spending on travel and tourism in the Caribbean corresponded to international tourism, while domestic tourism accounted for the remaining share. The regions is popular among leisure travelers.

In 2023, the number of jobs in the tourism sector in Latin America and the Caribbean was over 27,000. In the following year, the tourism employment in the region is expected to grow by 4.5 percent.

Given their name by the Caribbean Sea, the Caribbean islands have earned themselves a reputation as a highly sought-after tourist destination. So much so collectively, the region welcomed more than ********** foreign visitor arrivals annually before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. In 2020 and 2021, nonetheless, the Caribbean's international tourism dropped significantly as a result of the crisis.

A big-game market

As of 2019, the island nations ranked the majority of the highest GDP generating travel and tourism destinations worldwide, contributing approximately ** percent of travel and tourism’s GDP in the Latin American region that year. However, under the Covid-19 pandemic, the archipelagos inevitably faced dramatic revenue losses as the global tourism sector was forced to come to a standstill.

Trouble in paradise

As the most prominent cruise destinations, the region was set to lose around *********** tourism jobs in 2020, which would cause a significant blowback in region’s job market. In 2019, for instance, the Caribbean’s number of jobs directly related to tourism was almost equaled to that number, with the Dominican Republic accounting for more than ********** of them.

In 2019, the direct contribution of the travel and tourism sector to employment in the whole Caribbean region increased *** percent in relation to the previous year. Nevertheless, the growth rates among the Caribbean islands registered major differences. For instance, Dominica saw a growth in tourism contribution to employment of over ** percent. Anguilla and St. Kitts and Nevis also had positive double-digit growths that year. On the contrary, the direct contribution of the travel and tourism sector to the employment in Grenada decreased more than ** percent. Haiti and Cuba recorded negative growths too.

In 2024, the number of international tourist arrivals in Latin America and the Caribbean increased by *** percent to more than *** million. Mexico, the region's major player in this sector, accounted for roughly ** percent of the international tourism volume in 2024. Tourism-dependent economies in the region Out of the around ***** billion U.S. dollars in international tourism revenue generated in Latin America in 2019, about **** billion were attributed to by Mexico. This sum made up part of the North American nation’s travel and tourism sector, which in turn directly represented about ***** percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) of that year. Meanwhile, the economies of many Caribbean countries are even more dependent on travel and tourism. In Aruba, for instance, this sector made up approximately a third of the island’s GDP in 2019. The pandemic’s blow to Mexico’s tourism industry Being the leading country for tourism in Latin America and the Caribbean, Mexico also has a lot to lose in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic. In early 2020, it was anticipated that about *** million jobs in Mexico’s travel and tourism industry were endangered due to the pandemic. Furthermore, the country is expected to have experienced a decrease of around *** trillion Mexican pesos in total tourism consumption in 2020.

In 2020, the gross domestic product (GDP) of Central and South America had suffered a contraction of more than 110 billion U.S. dollars due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on tourism. Meanwhile, the global travel restrictions imposed due to the health crisis caused a GDP decline of roughly 33 billion U.S. dollars in the Caribbean. In consequence, tourism employment was also severely affected in those regions that year.

Tourism contribution to GDP in Latin America and the Caribbean

The gross domestic product (GDP) measures the value of all goods and services produced in a country or a region within a certain period. Excluding Mexico, the total contribution of the tourism sector to Latin America and the Caribbean’s GDP saw a moderate but overall positive trend during the past decade, surpassing 350 billion U.S. dollars in 2019. In Mexico alone, nearly two trillion Mexican pesos (more than 100 billion U.S. dollars at exchange rates of December 31, 2019) were added that year to the country’s GDP by tourism-related activities.

COVID-19 impact on travel and tourism in Mexico

Mexico is not only the leading country for tourism in Latin America but also one of the key players in the travel sector worldwide. For most of 2020, the Mexican government opted out of travel restrictions and lockdowns. This measure, however, did not rescue the country's tourism sector from the harsh impact of COVID-19. As of October of that year, Mexico was among the travel destinations most affected by the pandemic, with tourism revenue losses amounting to nearly 14 billion U.S. dollars.

In 2023, the total spending of international travelers in Latin America and the Caribbean amounted to almost 128 billion U.S. dollars. In the following year, this figure could increase by 9.7 percent.

Galápagos was the best-rated island destination in the region including Latin America, the Caribbean, the Bahamas, and Bermuda in 2025, with a score of 91.23 points. Meanwhile, Anguilla ranked second, where it obtained a rating of 89.21 by travelers.

Roughly *********** international visitors arrived in Cuba in 2024, which represents a drop of around ******* versus the previous year. As of that year, the Caribbean country's tourism sector had not been able to recover from the COVID-19 impact.

The largest numbers of inbound tourists arriving in Saba by air in 2021 were recorded in November and December of that year. Approximately one thousand visitors arrived in Saba by air in November and December combined, while the lowest number of tourists arriving in Saba by air in the same year was seen in February, when just 100 tourists arrived in the Caribbean island.

The domestic tourism expenditure in Latin America and the Caribbean could amount to approximately more than 447 billion U.S. dollars in 2024. In comparison to the previous year, this figure represents an increase of two percent.

The number of international tourist arrivals in Latin America and the Caribbean amounted to *** million in 2023, almost reaching the figure recorded in 2019 – right before the COVID-19 pandemic. In the *****, the volume of international tourism in the region grew by ** percent.