The American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA) hosted nearly 350 travel advisors, suppliers and industry stakeholders last week at Sandals South Coast in Whitehouse, Jamaica, for the trade organization’s fourth-annual Caribbean Showcase.
The event also attracted ministers of tourism from seven different Caribbean nations, including Jamaica, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Turks and Caicos, St. Lucia, Barbados, St. Kitts and Grenada.
Held Aug. 23-27, the showcase featured a busy schedule of educational content, panel discussions, product presentations and destination updates from Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Curacao. Attendees also had a chance to learn about the latest regional offerings from companies such as Royal Caribbean International, Virgin Voyages, Scenic Luxury Cruises & Tours and Emerald Cruises, MSC Cruises and the Hyatt Inclusive Collection. And showcase attendees were encouraged to take part in several networking events, a trade show, resort site inspections and even a karaoke night.
Zane Kerby, president and CEO of ASTA, said the event is designed to help travel sellers recommend the Caribbean to clients with increased confidence.
“This [showcase] is an opportunity for travel advisors to get in-depth knowledge from the horse's mouth,” Kerby told me. “If the ministers of tourism for seven of these islands can't help us understand the nuances of why we should pick them, then who can? So, it's really about breaking through some of the media noise and marketing messaging that's out there and talking directly to the providers and with these ministers of tourism to understand what's on offer.”
Caribbean Travel Business Is Booming
Edmund Bartlett, minister of tourism for Jamaica, said during his showcase address that the Caribbean saw international arrivals increase 6.1% year over year to 34.2 million visitors in 2024.
The vast majority of these countries are experiencing the highest level ever of tourism from the United States.
“This also represented a 6.9% increase over pre-pandemic levels, and so I must say thanks again,” Bartlett said, speaking to travel advisors in the room. “Because you carried us through that difficult period when all of us felt it could all be lost. But we came back. We were resilient. And now, thanks to you, we are beyond our pre-pandemic levels.”
Edmund Bartlett, Jamaica’s minister of tourism, delivered an address at this year’s ASTA Caribbean Showcase.
Credit: 2025 Shane NelsonASTA’s Kerby, meanwhile, told me that travel business to the Caribbean is booming.
“The vast majority of these countries are experiencing their highest level ever of tourism from the United States,” he said. “It's record tourism across the board, and the Caribbean is getting an outsized share."
Cashing in on Experiential Travel
Jamaica’s Bartlett also spoke during his address about a fundamental shift in traveler behavior, driven by increased interest in experiential tourism.
“Beyond the traditional appeal of sun, sea and sand, a growing number of our visitors are seeking to immerse themselves in our culture, food, music and activities,” Bartlett said. “We have the assets, but we have to look closer at the power of what our people provide.”
Ernest Hilaire, the minister of tourism for St. Lucia, said during a panel discussion that his country’s small size is, in part, what helps it stand out from competitors.
“This new trend moving toward personalized experiences gives us an opportunity — through the help of travel advisors — to customize what the experience is for the individual,” Hilaire said. “We’re a small island. Our smallness makes us charming, makes us appealing. … And that is what is so valuable about personalized, intimate, immersive experiences.”
Dona Regis-Prosper, secretary general and CEO of the Caribbean Tourism Organization, said in her address that travel advisors are an absolutely critical component of the region’s effort to boost experiential travel.
We’re asking you to tell our story to the traveler who wants to connect not just consume, to the traveler seeking authenticity not just amenities, to the traveler who is willing to get to know us and spend locally.
“Today, we’re not just asking you to sell vacations,” Regis-Prosper said. “We’re asking you to tell our story to the traveler who wants to connect not just consume, to the traveler seeking authenticity not just amenities, to the traveler who is willing to get to know us and spend locally. We need you to tell the deeper Caribbean story."
Demand For Private-Island Experiences Is Growing
Royal Caribbean International’s Anthony Meloro spent a sizeable chunk of his product presentation discussing several new private-island experiences the cruise line plans to launch in the near future, including Royal Beach Club Paradise Island Nassau, which is scheduled to open in December this year.
Meloro also provided an update on Royal Beach Club Paradise Island Cozumel — slated to debut next year — and Perfect Day Mexico Mahahual, which is scheduled for completion in 2027.
Royal Caribbean expects to welcome a reported 3.5 million guests to its Perfect Day at CocoCay product in 2025, and ASTA’s Kerby told me he thinks private-island experiences are an area of growing consumer interest where Caribbean tourism officials should pay close attention.
This year’s Caribbean Showcase was held at Sandals South Coast.
Credit: 2025 American Society of Travel Advisors“If Perfect Day at CocoCay is the No. 1 aspirational place that Royal Caribbean customers want to go to worldwide — and I have to take [Royal Caribbean] at their word — that really says something,” Kerby said. “Look at the partnership between the Bahamas and Royal Caribbean or the partnership between Turks and Caicos and Carnival or the partnership between Mexico and Royal Caribbean. These [private island experiences] are, I think, really interesting developments that the traveling public is responding to.”
Sustainable Growth Still Critical
Perhaps not surprisingly, sustainability was frequently discussed throughout the five-day showcase, and many of the ministers didn’t hesitate to hammer home the issue’s critical significance.
“Preserving and protecting the environment is so important,” said Adrian Thomas, the minister of tourism for Grenada. “If we lose it, we lose tourism.”
Zhavargo Jolly, minister of tourism for Turks and Caicos, said empowering his nation’s citizens with tourism opportunity is an important part of preserving his destination’s natural resources.
We want you to enjoy our mangroves. It just needs to be in a controlled and sustainable way, and we want to incorporate that into the product offering.
“We want you to enjoy our reefs, our environment,” Jolly said. “We want you to enjoy our mangroves. It just needs to be in a controlled and sustainable way, and we want to incorporate that into the product offering. … We don’t want to hide the reefs away. We don’t want to hide the mangroves, hide the bird sanctuaries. We want to package it properly and sustainably and make it an available offering.”
Denise Ambrusko-Maida — founder of Travel Brilliant, a Travel Leaders affiliate in Buffalo, New York — attended this year’s showcase and told me she really appreciated hearing directly from the tourism ministers about their nation’s sustainability efforts.
“It's always really helpful for me to know that they have a plan and more about what that plan is and that they're being thoughtful about it,” Ambrusko-Maida said. “I was actually pleasantly surprised by how much all the tourism ministers were acknowledging the climate-change crisis. … To hear government officials address it in a meaningful way was really nice.”
