Shift Tourism Focus From Volume to Value
Former Director of Tourism Sharon Flax-Brutus urged a rethink of how the Virgin Islands measures tourism success, calling for a focus on the economic value generated by overnight visitors rather than raw arrival numbers. Her comments at the 2nd Annual Tourism Summit come as the Government celebrates record overall arrivals driven largely by cruise traffic, while overnight stays remain a smaller but higher-spending segment.
ROAD TOWN, Tortola — Former Director of Tourism Sharon Flax-Brutus is urging the Territory to change how it measures tourism success, arguing the national discussion should prioritise economic value over simple passenger counts. Speaking at the opening of the 2nd Annual Tourism Summit, Flax-Brutus said the focus must shift from volume to value. "We need to shift our tourism arrivals conversation from volume to value," she told summit attendees, stressing that overnight visitors typically generate more sustained spending in hotels, villas, guesthouses, restaurants and across local services.
Government figures show why the debate has intensified. In 2024 the Virgin Islands welcomed more than one million visitors for the first time since 2016, with cruise passengers accounting for more than 768,000 arrivals and overnight visitors totaling 305,876. By contrast, earlier data illustrate a different mix: from January to July 2016 the Territory recorded 280,876 overnight visitors and 444,200 cruise passengers, with overnight stays representing nearly 39 percent of arrivals.
More recent figures from the first half of 2025 show about 191,089 overnight visitors compared with more than 504,000 cruise passengers, underscoring the dominance of cruise tourism in overall arrival statistics. Premier Dr the Honourable Natalio Wheatley and government officials have celebrated record overall arrivals and cruise traffic, noting the benefits to employment, entrepreneurship and public revenues.
The Government’s 2026 Budget Address highlighted record cruise arrivals and day-tripper growth and noted overnight visitor numbers had finally surpassed 300,000 annually for the first time since the 2017 hurricanes. Tourism stakeholders say both cruise and stay-over sectors matter: cruise visitors support taxis, tour operators, retailers and attractions, while overnight guests tend to spend more per person and stay longer.
That difference underpins calls for strategic investment to attract higher-spending stay-over travellers, including plans to expand the Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport to increase airlift capacity. Destinations such as the Cayman Islands, Anguilla and St Lucia have pursued policies to boost high-value overnight arrivals, focusing on hotel occupancy, visitor spending and length of stay rather than total arrivals alone.
For BVI residents the stakes include the types of jobs created, steadiness of business for small operators, and how tourism revenues support public services. As airport expansion and other tourism initiatives move forward, the Territory faces a policy choice: maintain strong cruise volumes, or rebalance growth toward the deeper economic benefits that overnight visitors can bring.
For Flax-Brutus, the measure of success should be how much value each visitor leaves behind, not just how many set foot on the islands.
Primary source: Guavaberry