By the Caribbean Journal staff

Caribbean tourism is booming, according to a new report from the Caribbean Tourism Organization.

The region’s tourism sector posted a six percent increase in arrivals in the first quarter of 2015, the 17th straight quarter of positive growth.

That represented a total of nearly 8 million visits to the region in the first three months of 2015.

The region also set a record in the first quarter for room occupancy (77.8 percent), average daily rate ($239.84) and RevPar, or revenue per available room ($188.25), according to the CTO report.

“The outlook for the remainder of the year is positive,” said Barbados Tourism Minister and current CTO Chairman Richard Sealy.

Last year, the region recorded 26.3 million visitor arrivals, which was a 5.3 percent improvement over the previous year.