Bahamas Air Arrivals Down in Early 2025

Image: Overnight visitors to The Bahamas fell nearly four percent in January and February. (Photo by Brian Major)

by Brian Major
Last updated: 1:10 PM ET, Wed May 7, 2025

The Bahamas’ overnight, land-based visitor arrivals declined nearly four percent during the first two months of 2025, even as the destination’s cruise passenger visits increased by double digits during the same period.

An April 2025 study from Canadian-owned bank CIBC found that The Bahamas’ airline visitor arrivals declined 3.9 percent year-over-year during January and February this year, while cruise ship arrivals increased 12.8 percent year-over-year, according to a Bahamas Tribune report.

The Bahamas’ four percent overnight visitor decrease placed the country among the CIBC report’s lowest tourism performers among Caribbean destinations in early 2025, ahead of only Grenada, as “most other islands [showed marginal growth in this category.”

After exceeding pre-pandemic levels in 2023, The Bahamas’ air passenger arrivals fell 0.2 percent to 1.7 million visitors in 2024, according to the Tribune.

Overnight, land-based visitors on average spend 28 times the expenditures of cruise passengers in The Bahamas and stay for longer periods, the report adds.

Bahamas cruise tourism is “poised for another exceptional performance, but preliminary indicators point toward a likely subdued performance for the [overnight] segment,” CIBC’s study found.

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