Travel recovery in the Caribbean is “breaking every conceivable record” – a welcome development that is about to be supercharged even further by Canadian travellers newly unbound by the long-awaited removal of travel restrictions.

At last week’s annual Caribbean Travel Marketplace in San Juan, Puerto Rico – the first held since early 2020 before the pandemic – tourism executives revealed that the region’s recovery in 2022 is being led by North America at +19% (Q3) over 2019 numbers.

However, in reality – and despite ranking as the fifth most resilient source market overall for the Caribbean – Canada is the junior partner in the statistical compilation with the US – “lagging” at -2%, though still close to 2019’s record arrivals rate.

But with border restrictions in this country fully removed on Oct. 1, Caribbean tourism figures expect that to change quickly, having already seen a surge in interest.

“When we talk to our supplier partners in Canada (the lag) was more to do with the restrictions, and cost, for persons to travel to the Caribbean and to go back, with the testing requirements, etc.,” CHTA president Nicole Madden-Greig told Travel Industry Today.

And while “dynamic” US travel has been driving growth, Canada is now “taking the same direction,” stated Olivier Ponti, VP Insights at analytics firm Forward Keys, who added, “the removal of travel restrictions in Canada is actually accelerating the recovery of Canada as a source market for the Caribbean.”

Indeed, Ponti presented a slide showing an upward trajectory of online flight searches for the Caribbean by Canadians throughout 2022, but noted a significant spike in actual bookings this month after the removal of restrictions.

At the same time, Canada ranks 7th amongst nations for growth (Q3) in the premium arrival sector (+25%), despite Madden-Greig’s acknowledgement that many Canadians have been hampered by capacity issues in the Caribbean – specifically that US consumers, who were travelling before Canadians, had filled up rooms (especially in the premium category) leaving Canadians who wanted to travel out of luck.

“I know as a region, the Canadian market is extremely important to the Caribbean; and, yes, the US market has taken up some of that slack,” she noted. “But at the same time, we were not at full open capacity.”

However, the CHTA president assures that “for Q4 and into Q1, 2023, all the hotel rooms will be re-opened.

“So, while we had some containment of capacity, we have full capacity going into season. I don’t think we’ll have any problems related to access to the Caribbean,” she continued, adding, “We (also) have some new-builds coming in 2023… that will continue to welcome Canadians.”

According to Forward Keys, in Q4, 2022, the destinations posting the best growth from Canada are Guadeloupe (+66%), Martinique (+60%) and Sint Curacao (+35%).

With similar striking figures across the region, and from countries beyond Canada, Madden-Greig enthused, “Ladies and gentlemen, the Caribbean is recovering and recovering fast, and leading the pack… The Caribbean is doing very well.”

And with Canada now up to speed, expect even better.