2025 Caribbean Hospitality Financing Survey

This year's survey has proven to be very interesting in many respects.

Firstly, it is the 20th anniversary of this publication, a landmark which we are very proud of. We believe it has developed into a piece of thought leadership that is eagerly anticipated by stakeholders in the region's tourism industry (if we are to believe the feedback we receive!) and one which represents a reliable benchmark to refer to when considering investing, developing and financing new and existing resorts in the region. 

Secondly, as we analyzed and critiqued the survey responses collected during the 30 January 2025 to 13 March 2025 time period, we seemed to be moving towards delivering a message of cautious optimism... and then the subject of "tariffs" hit the headlines.

When reputable entities like Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan start to talk about the odds of a recession being at 45% and 60% respectively and the Federal Reserve Chair comments on the potential for rising inflation, it would have been naive of us to ignore these developments even though the catalyst for these events started after we had closed our survey on April 2 when the U.S. announced extensive tariffs on goods imported into the U.S. from many different countries.

Accordingly, for the first time, we have issued a cautionary note in our introduction acknowledging that it was likely that events occurring between the closing of our survey and issuing our publication would have impacted some of the results of our survey. 

However, we believe that in all likelihood, these events make this survey one of the most important we have issued. At times of great uncertainty when it is very hard to predict what will happen next, it is very useful to have information you can rely on in order to understand what the landscape was like just before the major uncertainty started.

We believe our survey documents that position.

The main messages from our survey include, but are not restricted to, the following:

• The fundamentals of the Caribbean tourism industry are sound.
• The Caribbean is seen as something of a safe haven at times of geopolitical tensions.
• The region's tourism industry has proven itself to be very resilient over many years.
• Generally, survey responses indicate a sense of cautious optimism.
• Confidence remains high especially amongst non-banks.
• The growth in the real estate industry continues.
• Concerns about the lack of insurance coverage remain.
• Challenges in conducting business in the region remain.

We will stop there as we want to allow you to read for yourself the insightful responses submitted by our respondents. Please click on the banner below to access the full report.