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Puerto Rico jumps to 2nd most searched travel destination in Caribbean

With a 22% year-over-year growth in 2024, the island climbed from fourth to second place.

Puerto Rico is the second most searched destination in the Caribbean, according to a new report released by UN Tourism in collaboration with travel data platform Amadeus.

With a 22% year-over-year growth in 2024, Puerto Rico climbed from fourth to second place a year ago. The Dominican Republic remained the most popular destination, with a 20% increase in search volume due to affordable flights and the promotion of its cultural and natural attractions, UN Tourism reported.

The two top destinations were followed by Jamaica, Cuba, Aruba, the Bahamas, Curaçao, Barbados, St. Lucia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Curaçao showed the highest year-over-year growth in travel demand at 30%, gaining traction among tourists and benefiting from a strong development of connectivity to South American travelers, according to the report.

Among the cities with the highest year-over-year growth in travel interest within the top 30 searched, San Juan, Puerto Rico, came in fourth with a 26% increase, while Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, showed a 22% rise.

The highest search volumes for the Caribbean came from the U.S., Argentina and the U.K. South America is becoming an increasingly important source market for the Caribbean, UN Tourism said. Argentina ranked second with moderate year-over-year search growth, while Brazil and Colombia each recorded growth rates exceeding 20%.

The U.S. held a significant 61% market share for travel to the Caribbean, followed by Canada with 9%. Europe exhibited only a minor share. An analysis of direct flights to the Caribbean booked for September through December 2024 indicated a modest overall decline compared to 2023.

“The report reveals continued growth in demand for travel to destinations across the Americas, despite economic and geopolitical challenges,” noted UN Tourism.

The top 10 most searched destinations in the world remained the same as in 2023, with the U.S., Canada and Mexico topping the list. Demand for beach destinations during the holiday season continued to trend, as searches for Mexico stood out with 19% growth for the period analyzed. The highest growth rates were seen in Chile (29%), followed by Colombia (27%) and Peru (24%).

Other interesting findings include:

  • In North America, travelers from the U.S., U.K., Canada and Brazil provided the highest search volumes, with New York City as the top searched-for destination.
  • In Central America, Costa Rica and Panama stayed at the top of the list for traveler interest. El Salvador saw significant growth at 25%.
  • In South America, traveler interest remained strong. Brazil was the top destination, with Florianópolis topping the list of cities with the highest growth in traveler interest compared to a year ago.

Data included in the report, “Travel Insights: Focus on Americas, September to December 2024,” was extracted from Amadeus Navigator360, including from Amadeus Air Search, Air Booking and Schedule data sets.

Data from Amadeus Air Searches stems from more than 200 million searches per day from over 2,500 global online travel agencies, including the top 10 worldwide. Amadeus Air Bookings data is sourced from the three major global distribution systems and includes details on bookings by origin and destination, cabin class, business versus leisure and travel agency profile. Amadeus Air Schedules shows data from more than 900 scheduled flights; this data is both historical and forward-looking, with access to schedules up to 12 months into the future.

The World Tourism Organization (UN Tourism) is the United Nations agency responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism.

Author Details
Author Details
G. Torres is a freelance journalist, writer and editor. She’s worked in business journalism for more than 25 years, including posts as a reporter and copy editor at Caribbean Business, business editor at the San Juan Star and oil markets editor at S&P Global Platts (previously a McGraw Hill company). She’s also worked in marketing on and off for decades, now freelancing for local marketing and communications agencies.
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