The Caribbean’s biggest aviation and tourism stakeholders are heading to Jamaica next year for another major push to improve regional air connectivity.
Jamaica will host the second annual Caribbean Tourism Organization Air Connectivity Summit in Kingston on Feb. 23, 2027, following the inaugural gathering held earlier this year in Bermuda (where our editor-in-chief was on the ground reporting.)
Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett made the announcement during the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association’s Caribbean Travel Marketplace conference in Antigua this week, positioning the event as a critical next step for regional tourism growth at a time when Caribbean destinations continue facing rising operational costs, geopolitical uncertainty and ongoing airlift challenges.
“The summit will provide strategic insight for regional planning,” Bartlett said. “Jamaica will use that as a means not only of bringing airline partners together, but also to engage in some cerebration … some thinking around the future of air connectivity in our region, which is so important.”
Why Airlift Remains the Caribbean’s Biggest Tourism Issue
For most Caribbean destinations, airlift remains the single biggest driver of tourism growth. More seats, more nonstop routes and stronger regional connections almost always translate directly into more visitor arrivals, longer stays and higher hotel occupancy.
That’s particularly true for intra-Caribbean travel, which continues to face hurdles ranging from high taxes and airport fees to limited flight frequencies and fragmented airline networks.
The first CTO Air Connectivity Summit, held Feb. 24, 2026 in Hamilton, Bermuda, brought together tourism ministers, airline executives, airport authorities and route-development specialists to address those issues directly.
One of the clearest themes to emerge from the Bermuda summit was the need for greater regional cooperation instead of destinations competing independently for the same routes.
“Competition is our fragmentation — we must expand our collective marketing power,” Sint Maarten Deputy Prime Minister and Tourism Minister Grisha Heyliger-Marten said during the conference.
The Bermuda Summit Produced Concrete Aviation Goals
The Bermuda gathering focused heavily on practical route-development strategy instead of broader tourism messaging.
Participants reviewed the newly completed CTO Airlift Study by ASM, which identified several underserved international markets with strong potential for expanded Caribbean service, particularly in South America and Europe.
According to summit discussions, markets including Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Italy showed significant opportunity for new direct routes into the Caribbean.
Industry leaders also emphasized the need for destinations to present stronger commercial business cases to airlines instead of relying solely on tourism demand projections.
That included calls for collaborative marketing campaigns, route-risk sharing, improved interline agreements and better coordination between tourism ministries, immigration agencies and finance departments.
The summit additionally produced a memorandum of understanding between the CTO and Airports Council International – Latin America and the Caribbean, aimed at strengthening cooperation between tourism and aviation stakeholders throughout the region.
South America Continues Emerging as a Major Caribbean Growth Market
The timing of Jamaica’s summit announcement comes as Caribbean destinations continue seeing strong momentum from South America.
Regional tourism officials said South American arrivals to the Caribbean climbed by 23.7 percent in 2025, reaching 2.4 million visits.
That growth has increasingly pushed destinations to rethink traditional dependency on North American and European travelers while pursuing new airline partnerships deeper into Latin America.
The Caribbean Tourism Organization is already planning another event specifically targeting that opportunity: the inaugural CTO Latin American Market Summit, scheduled for Saint Lucia on May 5-6, 2027.
That conference will also focus heavily on air connectivity and improving direct service between Latin America and Caribbean destinations.
Jamaica Is Positioning the Event Around Resilience
Bartlett also connected the 2027 summit to Jamaica’s broader tourism resilience agenda.
The event will take place one week after Global Tourism Resilience Day on Feb. 17, an observance Jamaica helped champion through the United Nations.
That positioning reflects a growing emphasis among Caribbean tourism leaders on building more diversified and resilient visitor economies, particularly after years of pandemic disruptions, airline volatility and shifting global travel demand.
CTO Secretary-General and CEO Dona Regis-Prosper said the Jamaica summit is intended to turn the conversations from Bermuda into actionable regional strategy.
“Hosting the 2027 summit in Jamaica will allow us to translate the insights from Bermuda into concrete actions — forging new partnerships, addressing persistent challenges in airlift and strengthening the One Caribbean vision for resilient, connected growth,” Regis-Prosper said.
She is expected to travel to Jamaica soon to meet with Director of Tourism Donovan White as planning for the summit accelerates.
What the 2027 Summit Will Focus On
The Kingston event is expected to center on several recurring priorities that emerged from the Bermuda conference:
Building stronger airline business cases. Caribbean destinations are increasingly being encouraged to present detailed data and coordinated marketing support when pursuing new routes.
Expanding interline agreements. Regional leaders continue pushing for easier multi-island connectivity through stronger airline partnerships.
Reducing taxes and fees. High aviation costs remain one of the biggest barriers to affordable intra-Caribbean travel.
Optimizing airport infrastructure. Several speakers in Bermuda emphasized maximizing existing airport capacity before pursuing major expansion projects.
Diversifying source markets. South America remains one of the clearest growth targets for Caribbean tourism over the next decade.
Rosa Harris, chair of the CTO Airlift Committee and Director of Tourism for the Cayman Islands, summarized the issue bluntly during the Bermuda summit.
“Air connectivity is our oxygen,” Harris said. “If we can’t get off the island, we can’t develop business, we can’t feed our people.”
For the Caribbean tourism industry, that reality continues shaping nearly every major regional tourism discussion — and Jamaica’s upcoming summit is set to become one of the most important aviation conversations in the region next year.
Caribbean Journal Staff
2026-05-18 16:06:00