By the Caribbean Journal staff

After a mostly sluggish first half, the Caribbean’s hotel sector is starting to show signs of strengthening, according to the latest data from hotel analytics firm STR.

Caribbean hotels reported a 71.8 percent occupancy rate in July, a 1.4 percent increase over July 2016 that was the region’s third straight month of year-over-year occupancy increases.

Average daily rates rose by 2.2 percent to $189.48 last month, while revenue per available room rose by 3.6 percent to $136 in the same period.

For the year, Caribbean hotel occupancy is now up by 0.4 percent to 70.9 percent, while average daily rates are up 0.6 percent to $216.92 and RevPar is up by 3.6 percent to $136.

STR’s hotel data surveyed 1,942 hotels comprising 245,548 rooms in the wider Caribbean market.