Above: St Thomas (CJ Photo)

By Alexander Britell

ST THOMAS — Can the Caribbean region one day welcome 30 million stayover visitors to its shores?

Why not?

Speaking to attendees at this week’s State of the Industry conference in St Thomas, Caribbean Tourism Organization Secretary General Hugh Riley said 30 million annual visitors was a number “we have our eye on.”

That was one of the main items on this week’s agenda at a conference held under the theme of “positioning Caribbean tourism for major change.”

It’s a number that is by no means out of reach, and the kind of big-picture, ambitious thinking the Caribbean so desperately needs.

Last year, the Caribbean received around 25 million stayover visitors. In the first half of 2014, arrivals were up by 4.3 percent, a pace of around 26.1 million.

If the Caribbean can keep up that 4.3 percent pace, it would reach a target of 30 million stayover visitors by 2017.

Of course, it won’t be easy. The region continues to find itself in competition with a number of other warm-weather destinations around the world, from Florida to the Pacific.

And, Riley cautioned, achieving that number would not be an economic panacea on its own.

But the goal, he said, is for the region to reach a different level, both statistically and emotionally.

“Realizing the vision is more than simply hitting one particular target,” Riley said. “Our vision isn’t just numerical. Sure, it’s that too. But being the most desirable destination speaks powerfully to the way we make our visitors feel. Not just what we say to them when we’re trying to attract them here, but how we make them feel when they’re here, sharing our space and breaking bread with us.”