Air arrivals dipped almost 9% in June compared to June 2024, but the total for the first six months of 2025 is still 3.4% more than last year.
According to statistics released by the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism, 37,848 visitors arrived by air in June, bringing the total for the halfway point of 2025 to 259,338. Although there were 41,569 air arrivals in June 2024, the total through the first half of last year was 250,699.
June marked the second month in a row when air arrivals were below those of the corresponding month last year. This year’s total for June was also lower than that of June 2023.
The lower year-on-year figures for air arrivals for the last two months make it unlikely the Cayman Islands can now surpass the record number of air arrivals achieved in 2019, when 502,739 stayover visitors landed at Owen Roberts International Airport. At the halfway point of 2019, there had been 280,704 air arrivals – 8.2% more than this year.
Cruise arrivals
The situation with cruise passenger arrivals in more pronounced. A total of 44,709 cruise passengers arrived in June this year, 20.3% fewer than in 2024. June’s numbers were the lowest since 2000 for any month not impacted by a hurricane or COVID-19.
Despite the steep year-on-year drop in June, the total number of cruise passenger arrivals in 2025 remains slightly – 0.3% – more for the first six months of 2025 compared with the first half of 2024. So far, there have been 634,492 cruise passenger arrivals through June, compared to 632,605 in the first half of last year.
Based on the cruise ship arrival schedule posted by the Port Authority of the Cayman Islands, July, August and September would likely continue the trend of lower year-on-year monthly arrivals, before the numbers go up over the last three months of 2025.
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