Above: Trunk Bay in St John, US Virgin Islands (Caribbean Journal photo)
By the Caribbean Journal staff
It’s the largest economic driver in the Caribbean, and it keeps getting bigger, according to newly-released economic data.
The Caribbean welcomed 26.3 million tourists in 2014, and that group spent approximately $29.5 billion in the region.
“Visitors spent more money in the Caribbean than they ever did before,” said Richard Sealy, Barbados Tourism Minister and current Caribbean Tourism Organization chairman.
That number represented a 5.3 percent rise over the $28 billion that visitors spent in the Caribbean in 2013, according to data from the research department at the Barbados-based Caribbean Tourism Organization.