The Ministry of Tourism said that Cayman is having an incredible first quarter for stayover visitor numbers and that the run of good news is set to continue.
Stran Bodden, chief officer in the Ministry of Tourism and Trade Development, told Compass TV’s Tammi Sulliman on the 23 April episode of ‘Forefront’ that the tourism figures were breaking records and that the department was “very very proud” of the March stayover visitor figures, which are going to be announced by Deputy Premier Gary Rutty in Parliament shortly.
“March is going to be gangbusters,” said Bodden, adding, “December was the best December we’ve ever had. January was the best January we ever had. February, we grew by 10% but it wasn’t the best one ever – February 2020 was actually slightly better, but only slightly better.”
Overall, he said, “April’s going to be a really great month as well [and] 2026 is really going to be a great year for tourism.”
Good news to continue
The Cayman Islands recorded 47,047 stayover visitors in January 2026, a 13.6% increase year-on-year, and 49,075 stayover visitors in February 2026, a 10.1% increase year-on-year and a 11.8% increase over the same two-month period in 2025.
Growth was driven by increases in visitors from the US, Canada and Europe, with Canadian inbound tourism showing a particularly strong increase in numbers.
Cruise numbers for 2026 have shown more volatility than stayover, as January 2026 saw a 11.2% decline in visitor numbers. This was attributed to bad weather which saw almost 30,000 passengers on 10 ships unable to land at Grand Cayman.
However, February saw a bounce back as cruise arrivals increased by 6.5% to 159,917 and, said Rutty, “projections going forward are very positive.”
Overall, he said, with the two new hotels – Grand Hyatt and ONE GT – opening, as well as the increased air capacity, “if we go through the year, with no major issues, no storms or anything else, 2026 will be a banner year”.
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I think two factors in the increased tourist arrivals are our proximity to Miami, and marginally, our lower crime rate compared with other Caribbean destinations. With air fares increasing by 20%, and a flight time from Miami of just over an hour, combined with many U.S. airlines and Air Canada having direct flights here, it all helps. It would be interesting to compare our 2026 arrivals to those of the Bahamas.
Are returning residents counted as tourists on flights?