“The Oxygen of Our Economy” 

It’s the “invisible bridge” that ensures the survival and success of island destinations: air travel. 

And more than 150 delegates from around the Atlantic and Caribbean converged on the island of Bermuda Tuesday, fueled by this singular focus. 

The Caribbean Tourism Organization’s Air Connectivity Summit kicked off at the Hamilton Princess hotel in Bermuda, bringing together stakeholders across the wider region from ministers of tourism to airline executives from companies like Virgin Atlantic, JetBlue and InterCaribbean, among others. 

For island nations, air connectivity isn’t just a convenience of travel — it’s the “oxygen of our economy, the bridge that connects our shores to the global marketplace,” Bermuda Tourism Minister Owen Darrell said in his opening address. 

Without it, “the vibrant fabric of our culture remains hidden from the world,” he said. 

Air travel remains the most essential component of the Caribbean’s dominant economic driver — tourism — and this week’s summit is a welcome step toward putting it at the forefront of the regional conversation. 

It came on an Atlantic island that continues to transform its shared cultural and historic ties into deeper economic and political connections with the islands of the Caribbean region. 

“While we sit more than 900 miles from our nearest Caribbean neighbor, that distance is merely geographical,” Darrell said. “It does not, and it cannot discount our deep family ties. Our vibrant Afro-Caribbean pulse or the immense pride that we take in our heritage. The lineage of the majority of Bermudian families is a map of the West Indies reaching back to the shores of St. Kitts and Nevis Jamaica.” 

Bermuda re-joined the Caribbean Tourism Organization in 2023, launching a renewed effort to strengthen the bonds with the Caribbean and engage further with the conduits of the region’s travel industry. 

And Bermuda faces the same tourism currents as destinations in the Caribbean: seasonality, shifting demand patterns, rising costs and evolving traveler expectations, said Erin Wright, chief operating officer and acting CEO of the Bermuda Tourism Authority.  

And summits like this are essential to drive sustained airlift. 

“We depend on strong, enduring airline partnerships to remain accessible and completive. Those partnerships matter,” she said. 

The summit came at a “pivotal moment,” Caribbean Tourism Organization CEO Dona Regis Prosper told attendees. 

“Global travel is shifting. Airline priorities are evolving. Competition for airlift is intense,” she said. “But connectivity is not a luxury. It is our lifeline, and if you’re not connected, you’re not competitive. This is why this summit maters.”