For much of the pandemic, the tiny island of Anguilla was one of the most difficult destinations to visit in the Caribbean, with ultra-strict travel health protocols. Since its full reopening last year, though, the island has engineered a full-fledged renaissance, one that has led to an all-time great first quarter of 2023. 

Anguilla welcomed just under 51,000 visitors in the first three months of 2023, a new record for tourist arrivals in the first quarter, according to the island’s tourism officials. 

That included a significant surge in visitors in March, when almost 30,000 travelers came to the islands shores. 

It’s a rather remarkable turnaround for the island, which was forced to implement strict protocols because of its small size and relative lack of healthcare infrastructure. 

But that’s all in the past, as the island looks to keep up its sizzling visitation numbers with the edition of a brand-new Blowing Point Ferry Terminal and the continued success of the island’s new Aurora Anguilla resort. 

The latter is a transformation of the former CuisinArt resort by Best Buy founder Richard M. Schulze, who sought to reposition the resort as a new kind of luxury hotel for the island and, more importantly, convert it into one of the Caribbean’s top golf resorts. 

So far, he seems to have achieved success on both counts, with Aurora helping to lead the way for Anguilla’s tourism revival.