USVI tourism climbing
The U.S. Virgin Islands—St. Croix, St. John and St. Thomas—reported rising visitor demand, higher hotel occupancy and increasing prices as tourism growth continues. (popularmigrant.com).
Tourism in the U.S. Virgin Islands kept rising through 2025, with fuller hotels, higher room rates and more visitors arriving by air and cruise ship. (visitusvi.com) The U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Tourism said on June 17, 2025 that hotel occupancy was up 4.3% from a year earlier, hotel tax collections were 6.7% above April year-to-date 2024, and short-term rental tax collections were running nearly 11% ahead. (visitusvi.com) The same update said the territory ranked third in the Caribbean for average daily rate and revenue per available room, two hotel measures that track nightly prices and money earned from occupied and empty rooms together. Both were more than 30% above the regional average. (visitusvi.com) That strength followed a bigger 2024 rebound. The U.S. Virgin Islands Bureau of Economic Research said total visitor arrivals rose 8.9% to 2.6 million in 2024, up from 2.4 million in 2023 and above the 2.1 million recorded in 2019 before the pandemic. (usviber.org) Air traffic did much of the work. The bureau said air arrivals reached 907,366 in 2024, up 16.2% year over year, while cruise passenger arrivals climbed to 1,700,161 and cruise ship calls increased 7.7% to 533. (usviber.org) Officials tied the 2025 gains to easier access. The tourism department said new daily nonstop service from Dallas to St. Thomas had started, with added Chicago and Boston service to St. Thomas scheduled for December 2025 and a new Chicago route to St. Croix also planned later that year. (visitusvi.com) The territory is also adding rooms as demand rises. A 126-room Hampton by Hilton in St. Thomas began taking bookings for Sept. 5, 2025, and Travel Weekly listed the hotel as a 2025-built property in Charlotte Amalie. (caribjournal.com) (travelweekly.com) The three-island territory of St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix has been rebuilding its visitor economy since the 2017 hurricanes and the 2020 travel collapse. By 2025, the numbers pointed to a market where stronger demand was letting hotels and rentals charge more, not just fill more rooms. (usviber.org) (visitusvi.com)
