Arrivals to the Caribbean destination are expected to soar past impressive 2024 figures
Antigua and Barbuda says it’s on a tourism roll, with the destination expecting the number of tourists it will host this year will top last year’s impressive figure.
Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority CEO Colin James told the Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association’s May 19-21 Travel Caribbean Marketplace that 2024 was a “remarkable year” for his destination, which saw over 1.2 million sea and air visitors.
However, the first 3 months of this year saw the destination receive 103,843 stay-over visitors and Antigua and Barbuda is on track to break last year’s stay-over visitor record, James reported. There were 97,341 stay-over visitors in the first quarter of 2024.
This year’s Caribbean Marketplace was held in Antigua, a first for the destination and something which provided its tourist trade with significant exposure as the event drew tourism personnel from both the Americas and Europe.
“This is a first for the destination and reinforces our growing stature as a strategic Caribbean hub for tourism and business,” James said.
James said his homeland’s tourist trade is benefiting from a number of pluses, including its having the newest airport in the Eastern Caribbean. V.C. Bird International Airport is seeing runway expansion this year.
Slated for later this year is the opening of a new cruise terminal.
Late 2025 will also see the opening of the Moon Gate Hotel & Spa, which will have 71 suites on what James said is a “particularly scenic beach.”
Antigua — already home to numerous luxury resorts — will be seeing more upscale retreats, including a Nikki Beach Resort & Spa and a Marriott.
Authorities decided that Antigua’s sister island of Barbuda should have a new runway that enables it to accommodate international flights.
James noted that Barbuda will be home to the only Nobu resort in the eastern Caribbean, with movie star Robert De Niro among those who invested in the project. The island already has an affiliated a Nobu restaurant.
Among Barbuda tourism draws is Princess Diana Beach, which James labelled “17 miles of unbroken pink sand.” The beach was named after the late Princess Diana, who vacationed on Barbuda.
James said Antigua and Barbuda is a festive part of the world, hosting the likes of a Culinary Month and an annual 13-day carnival that enables people to “party in the street and then unwind on one of our 365 beaches.”
He also praised Antigua’s environmental track record, which includes its banning plastic bags and its working on coral reef restoration.
Meanwhile, James said his department is committed to working with travel agents, stating they are “the people who pay our salaries.”
Antigua and Barbuda’s annual Black Pineapple Awards is a recognition of those agents who book particularly large numbers of clients to the destination, he noted.
Antigua visitors can get pointers on drumming on oil drums
Musicians are happy to help visitors develop steel-pan skills. Anyone who might feel a little uneasy upon hearing the name of Antiguan Khan Cordice’s steel-pan band need only listen to some of the music he selects when hosting visiting tourists for reassurance.
The affable Cordice — who’s been playing steel-pan, or pan as its generally referred to in Antigua — for over 20 years and is part of a musical ensemble called the Hell’s Gate Steel Orchestra, is happy to provide lessons to visitors on how to play a type of music commonly heard throughout much of the Caribbean, providing insights on where and how to strike an oil drum-turned-musical-instrument when creating a melody. (Antiguans always refer to the make-shift instruments as steel-pan, never steel drums.)
Cordice said that steel-pan bands were “born out of poverty” in parts of the Caribbean and were for a time associated with gangs, with bands often adopting menacing names, such as Brute Force and the Renegades.
But the bands have evolved, reports Cordice, recalling how an Antiguan pastor praises them for being a positive influence on the lives of young people. “Pan is really a deep part of our culture going way back,” he stated.
Cordice and a colleague hosted a group who attended the recent Caribbean Hotel & Tourist Association Caribbean Marketplace in Antigua, providing them with pointers on how to elicit different sounds from the pans, which lead to them among other things the visitors collectively performing Mary Had a Little Lamb. (“Not bad but we had a few stragglers,” Cordice said of a couple who failed to be in synch with the other budding pan musicians.)
Cordice — who has performed outside of the Caribbean — himself played a remarkable version of a Beethoven work for his guests, dispelling any notion that the visitors might have had that steel-pans have limited musical versatility. Hell’s Gate Steel Orchestra members are happy to share their musical knowledge with visitors, with beginner classes usually lasting around an hour.
Antigua resident Joshua Nathaniel said steel-pans are only of side to the varied Antigua musical scene. “We have a lot of musical artists,” he states, pointing to the likes of soca and dancehall performers.
Meanwhile, Cordice said Hell’s Gate Steel Orchestra loves sharing its music with those vacationing in Antigua.
“It’s our time to shine,” he stated.
