By Kenton X. Chance
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados —The United States has replaced the United Kingdom as the primary source of visitors to Barbados.
“Arrivals from the United States of America stand at 179,753 visitors, making the USA now our number one source market this year,” Andrea Franklin, CEO, Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. (BTMI), told journalists at the Caribbean Tourism Organisation’s (CTO) 2025 State of the Tourism Industry Conference here.
She said this was particularly significant because the UK has always been the island’s number one source market.
Two to three years ago, the BTMI recognised changes within the UK market economy-wise.
“And one of the decisions that we took, from a strategy perspective, was to look at how we expand outside of the UK — US being the obvious first place of interest,” Franklin said.
She said BTMI doubled down on its airlift strategy. “And we really went after building airlift to the destination out of the US market.”
In the 2025 winter season, Barbados received in excess of 60,000 additional seats from the US market, with services including a direct flight to New York, which the destination had not had for 14 years.
Franklin said Barbados is also seeing a change in the demographics of visitors, with more Black Americans among them.
“We are seeing, especially with the Atlanta service and coming out of that market and the feeder cities for that flight, we are seeing a significant increase in our Black American travellers.”
She said American travellers tend to stay seven to 10 days, with UK visitors tending to stay longer, adding, “but the US traveller tends to spend a little more than the UK traveller”.
In 2025, the Caribbean market also performed well, being Barbados’ third-highest source market with 70,984 visitors arriving from the region.
Barbados received 59,332 visitors from Canada, showing that it remains an important source market.
The destination has welcomed 21,000 visitors from Europe so far this year, while there were 10,818 arrivals from Central and South America so far this year.
“These numbers show us two things: first, the strength of our traditional markets, and second, the potential to grow in newer and emerging markets,” Franklin said.
“Most notably, the rise of the United States to the top position signals a shift in the market dynamics that we must pay close attention to as we move forward.”
Between January and August, stay-over arrivals in Barbados increased by 5.43% compared to the same period in 2024, representing an additional 25,000 visitors to the island.
“To put that into perspective, arrivals grew from 477,891 in 2024 to 503,000, in 2025. These numbers tell us that Barbados is not only attracting more visitors but also strengthening its position as a destination of choice in the region,” she said.
Franklin said the strategy includes positioning Barbados as the regional hub for airlift.
The story on the cruise side is “encouraging” with the 599,826 cruise passengers who visited between January and July, representing a growth of 24% year-on-year.
Franklin said Barbados has 6,000 hotel rooms in addition to over 13,000 vacation rental rooms.
“… this is a hot topic across the region, the growth of the vacation rental market, and it certainly is seen here in Barbados as well.”
She said that 10 new hotel projects are scheduled to come onstream.
The culinary options range from street foods to fine dining.
“We have over 400 eateries on the island offering this range of cuisine,” Franklin said, adding that Barbados’ beach escapes are never far away.
“There’s no denying that Barbados is also known worldwide for its pristine beaches and calm, clear waters, with over 80 choice beach spots as part of our coral island,” she said.
She said the BTMI has a new community tourism initiative called “Dine With A Bajan.
“And really it is an opportunity for persons to experience going into a Barbadian home, eating with a Bajan family and really enjoying Barbadian hospitality,” Franklin said of the initiative that will be launched this winter season.
Further, on Dec. 1, Barbados will launch year-long celebrations ahead of its 60th anniversary of independence from Britain on Nov. 30, 2026.