Three new properties add to luxury USVI inventory
ANN RUPPENSTEIN
Unlike most destinations around the world, the USVI actually did “extremely well” tourism wise during the pandemic.
“The USVI is leading the Caribbean on a comparative level from 2019 to 2023,” says Joseph Boschulte, Commissioner for the U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Tourism. “We made a very aggressive push to reopen in June of 2020… The decision was driven by economics — 60% of the GDP is from tourism and it has actually grown over the last few years. So we opened up and we did really, really well.”
Notably, as a result the tri-island destination saw more arrivals than the “USVI has ever seen.”
Although USVI didn’t have a cruise ship for 18 months during this period, he says cruise passenger numbers are anticipated to return to 2019 levels by the end of 2023.
“Our numbers are looking very, very good. We’re still looking very strong in 2023,” he says. “Our cruise ship passengers are coming back more robustly than we anticipated. St. Croix has increased its cruise traffic 150% for 2023, that’s being driven heavily by our partners at Royal Caribbean.”
As for new openings, there are three new luxury properties in destination including Pink Palm Hotel and the long awaited The Westin Beach Resort & Spa at Frenchman’s Reef and Morningstar Buoy Haus Beach Resort, Autograph Collection.
Interestingly, Canada has been identified as the No. 1 international market for the USVI.
“We’re moving much of our resources to that side to create brand awareness in the Canadian market. Right now the focus is on the Toronto Metro area.
