Americans are choosing a hot Caribbean vacation this summer

Lebawit Lily Girma

Bloomberg

Michelle Ruiz had her heart set on a trip to the south of France for her yearly summer getaway with her husband.&nbsp;But the $5,000-a-night rate in mid-July at Grand-Hotel du Cap-Ferrat stopped her in her tracks. Her husband suggested they vacation in the Caribbean instead, and suggested&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rockhouse.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rockhouse</a>, a luxury boutique property in Negril, Jamaica. A&nbsp;premium villa with ocean views there was available&nbsp;for about a tenth of the Grand-Hotel’s&nbsp;price: $574 per night.<div class="paywall-selector"></div><div class="paywall">



Given its cliffside location and access to&nbsp;azure swimming coves, Rockhouse&nbsp;“kind of looks like it’s in&nbsp;Europe,”Ruiz says.&nbsp;“It would satiate that desire to be somewhere rocky and picturesque, and be at the beach without spending thousands of dollars per night” on accommodations alone.&nbsp;Plus, she adds, for another $385 per person,&nbsp;she was able to book&nbsp;a&nbsp;five-day spa package that covers daily 50-minute treatments; for nearly the same price, you’ll get just one 60-minute&nbsp;massage at the Grand-Hotel du Cap-Ferrat. Including airfare from New York&nbsp;to Montego Bay, Ruiz says her entire trip&nbsp;(minus meals) will cost as much as one night at the five-star French icon.&nbsp; &nbsp;



With European hotspots&nbsp;increasingly overpriced,&nbsp;overcrowded and affected by the anti-tourism protests that are&nbsp;gearing up for a second summer, a growing number of Americans are trading the Riviera and other parts of the Mediterranean&nbsp;for&nbsp;islands&nbsp;that are closer to home. As of April&nbsp;10, the Caribbean had experienced&nbsp;a 26% year-over-year increase in overall summer bookings&nbsp;according to data provided exclusively to Bloomberg by&nbsp;the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.virtuoso.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Virtuoso Travel Network</a>,&nbsp;a collective of about&nbsp;20,000 travel advisers.



And there’s still plenty of time for people to firm up their summer plans.&nbsp;With more Americans&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-04-12/four-ways-trump-may-affect-america-s-travel-economy?srnd=undefined" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">looking to travel&nbsp;closer to home</a>,&nbsp;demand for a hot Caribbean vacation seems poised to keep growing &nbsp;as long as economic uncertainty persists. And anyway, summers in Europe are&nbsp;increasingly hot, too—in July 2024, coastal Mediterranean areas regularly reached&nbsp;104F, while most Caribbean islands hovered below&nbsp;90F. Plus, geopolitical tensions are creating fears that Americans will face hot tempers.&nbsp;



Enter the “hot Caribbean summer” trend, as we’re calling it. Yes, it technically&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-04-13/what-s-the-best-time-to-go-to-the-caribbean-year-round-new-research-shows" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">emerged&nbsp;amid the pandemic</a>. But its growth has lately been&nbsp;so sharp that Caribbean destinations have become&nbsp;two of the five most popular summer destinations for Americans, according to data&nbsp;from aviation analytics firm&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cirium.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cirium</a>. Using last&nbsp;year’s July bookings, it declared Mexico&nbsp;the most popular summer vacation destination for Americans overall by a long shot—though its Caribbean coast is just one part of its broader appeal. The Dominican Republic overtook&nbsp;Italy and France to land in the fourth spot&nbsp;right behind Canada in the UK, which ranked second and third.&nbsp;A broader list of the top 20 destinations, shows Jamaica (No. 13) and the Bahamas (No. 17) ranking ahead of perennial favorite Greece (No. 20).&nbsp;(Because Cirium primarily&nbsp;uses retrospective data, summer 2025 booking patterns won’t be clear until the fall.)&nbsp;



The primary draw for Caribbean-bound Americans: savings.&nbsp;The&nbsp;average daily rate at luxury hotels across the islands has&nbsp;decreased by 6% compared to 2024, Virtuoso’s data shows, while summer airfare is also down 3% year over year according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kayak.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kayak</a>. The sharpest savings this summer, the company says,&nbsp;can be found on fares to smaller islands, such as Saint Barts (-31%), Bonaire (-28%)&nbsp;and Dominica (-17%).&nbsp;



And prices should continue to fall as major US carriers and upstart discount airlines expand&nbsp;service&nbsp;to the region. Among the new options: weekly nonstops to Punta Cana&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/company/SAVE:US" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">on Spirit Airlines</a>&nbsp;(which started on March 20),&nbsp;an American Eagle route from Miami to South Caicos, and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/JBLU:US" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">JetBlue</a>’s service from New York&nbsp;to Bonaire, which kicked off last November. Yet another 23 destinations in the Americas and the Caribbean are now connected to one another on&nbsp;the new Dominican national carrier&nbsp;<a href="https://www.arajet.com/en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Arajet</a>, which continues to add routes. Victor Pacheco, the airline’s founder and CEO, says fares&nbsp;(from $250) are “even more affordable than domestic travel” in some cases.&nbsp;



Fiona Simpson, an Atlanta-based traveler who works in sales, has&nbsp;made the hot Caribbean summer an annual tradition since 2021. She says the value for her&nbsp;dollar goes much farther in the Caribbean compared to other regions—praising the region’s&nbsp;flavorful cuisine&nbsp;and top-notch&nbsp;hospitality.&nbsp;“Even in the most simple beachside restaurant,&nbsp;you’re getting thoughtful&nbsp;service,” she says.&nbsp;This year,&nbsp;for her partner’s 50th birthday in July, she’s planning&nbsp;eight days&nbsp;at&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fowlcay.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Fowl Cay</a>, an all-inclusive private island resort north of Grand Exuma in the&nbsp;Bahamas.&nbsp;



“I really thought it was going to be an insane, crazy cost,” says Simpson, noting that the total for plane tickets, hotel stays and daily access to a boat the resort provides  came to less than $20,000. A vacation like that in Europe over the same dates would have cost a lot more, she adds.<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DIuJZ5xSMwK/?hl=en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"></a>



There’s the convenience of shorter flights, too, with no jet lag.&nbsp;That’s part of what drew Connecticut-based&nbsp;magazine editor Kristin Koch Kennedy and her family—including four children between the ages of six months and eight years—to vacation in the Caribbean twice last summer.&nbsp;Another was cost—for hotels and airfare alike.&nbsp;“We felt like we could save Europe for when our kids are a bit older and can enjoy sightseeing and things like that,” she says.



Jamaica-bound Ruiz, meanwhile, is already daydreaming about what she’ll find in Negril besides the Mediterranean-like scenery—namely, the island’s famed&nbsp;food and music. It’s the type of cultural draw&nbsp;she seeks as well when going to Europe. The idea of it all is so tempting, she’s mulling a return trip before she even sets foot on the island. After, all, she says,&nbsp;the villas at Rockhouse include a loft that could easily fit her family of four. It’s&nbsp;slightly less grand than the premium ocean-view villa she booked for July, but it has&nbsp;extra beds and—at $495 a night—it’s an even better value.</div>

With European hotspots increasingly overpriced, overcrowded and affected by the anti-tourism protests, Americans are going elsewhere—and saving money. 

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Americans are choosing a hot Caribbean vacation this summer | Fortune

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