TCI News
Hotel & Tourism Association Welcomes Top Travel Partners to TCI for Annual Conference
#Providenciales, May 12, 2019 – Turks and Caicos – The Turks & Caicos Hotel and Tourism Association (TCHTA) is proud to welcome over 40 top-producing travel and tourism wholesalers to the 15th Annual Turks and Caicos Travel Conference (TACC), which kicked off on May 8th with a welcome cocktail celebration at Solana Restaurant at the Ocean Club West Resort in Grace Bay.
The Providenciales based Hotel and Tourism Association, the Ministry of Tourism and the Turks & Caicos Tourist Board to showcase the beautiful award-winning destination. Top travel wholesalers in attendance include; Orbitz, Travel Impressions, Expedia, Travelocity, US Airways Vacations, JetBlue Vacations and other companies which promote and sell the destination to travel agents and consumers in North America, the top tourist markets for the Turks and Caicos Islands.
The three day event will see the attendance of Minister of Tourism, Honorable Ralph Higgs, Junior Minister of Tourism Danae Dennie and Director of the Turks & Caicos Tourist Board, Ramon Andrews along with newly elected President of the TCHTA Todd Foss and his executive committee, Stacy Cox CEO of the TCHTA, several member of governments and association members.
During the Thursday morning conference, Director Andrews noted that arrival to the destination was up by 23% while Honorable Higgs expressed his gratitude and encouraged travel partners to stick with Brand Turk & Caicos. While Premier Cartwright Robinson laid out the Island’s plan to become an eco-friendly destination.
The elaborate three-day event which will run from May 8th through May 10th allows various hoteliers, tour operators and associations to update stakeholders and travel wholesalers about the tourism product and unique offerings of the Islands.
In Todd Foss’s opening speech, he gave an overview of the history of Tourism in the Turks & Caicos while applauding the growth in infrastructure, airlifts and partnerships. “The growth of destination Turks & Caicos has been an astonishing one.” he said, “Now the destination is boasting over 600,000 airline seats per annum, more than 3600 rooms in the destination, government revenue estimated at approximately $65M from the sector,” said Foss, “With new properties in the pipeline that will be open within three to five years, the Turks and Caicos Islands is now ranked among the most desired places to visit in the Caribbean, by extension the world, with many accolades and more than a million visitors to our shores on an annual basis.”
“The snapshot history lesson is about partnership, positioning and perseverance between you,” He continued, “Our hotel partners and the Tourist Board to make Turks and Caicos Islands what it is today”
During the conference, wholesalers will participate in numerous hotel site inspections, and special tours and excursions. The three-day event will allow travel professionals to experience brand TCI for themselves and also see firsthand the islands, hotels, resorts, and facilities that they offer to their clients. It is also an opportunity to meet face to face with all the top hoteliers, discuss marketing strategies and organize promotions for 2019 and beyond.
Foss wrapped up the conference on the 8th by extending a big thank you to all involved saying, “We join the Minister of Tourism and Director of the Tourist Board in thanking those who have traveled to our shores for this year’s event and to all our participating TCHTA members; Turks and Caicos Collections, Ocean Club Resorts, Bianca Sands, Solana, Sailrock, La Vista Azul, Villa Del Mar, Windsong Resort, Ports of Call Resort, Seven Stars Resort, Coral Gardens, and Beaches. We’d also like to give a special thanks to the Hartling Group who is providing the Yacht party, the closing party at The Shore club, the venue for the conference at The Shore club and the Tradeshow at The Palms. You’ve all truly extended the royal treatment to the TACC delegation and for that we say ‘Thank You’”.
Release: TCHTA
Almost two million visitors recorded in 2025
PROVIDENCIALES, TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS – The Turks and Caicos Islands saw an increase in stayover arrivals in December, seven percent higher than the corresponding period in 2024.
Preliminary data suggests that stay over arrivals by air for the month of December was 66,427 in comparison to 62,610 in December 2024.
From January to December 2025, preliminary visitor arrival numbers totalled 640,754; on par with the number recorded for the same period of 2024.
Stay Over Arrivals YTD December 2024/2025
The first quarter of the calendar year attracted the largest number of arrivals with visitor arrivals three percent higher than the first quarter of 2024. Reduced airlift from the United Kingdom and the United States, most notably the Virgin Atlantic and JetBlue services, was however felt from the second quarter (April to June). As a result, visitor arrivals dropped three percent in the second quarter.
By the third quarter of this year (July to September), geopolitical and economic conditions in the key source markets, namely the United States, led to further contraction of arrivals. In the last quarter of 2025, arrivals were impacted in October due to the passage of Hurricane Melissa but additional airlift from the USA and Canada resulted in an increase in arrivals in November and December.
Mr. Paul Pennicook, Interim CEO Consultant of Experience Turks and Caicos, said December’s increase in stayover arrivals is an encouraging indicator of the sustained interest in the Turks and Caicos Islands as a premier destination.
“While we note and continue to monitor geopolitical shifts that affect us, Experience Turks and Caicos is focused on increasing marketing initiatives in our primary source markets. We have spent the last two years investing in groundwork such as crucial travel advisor training to assist them in selling the destination more effectively. In the next fiscal, we will be building on those initiatives with co-op activities with partners as well as out of home advertising to increase visitation to our destination,” he said.
In Cruise, the preliminary count of passenger arrivals for the month of December 2025 was 129,346, a 22 percent increase over last December. This growth follows the berthing of 11 additional ships in Grand Turk this month.
From January to December, the cruise sector continued to outperform the same period last year, as the 1.3 million total cruise passengers recorded, marks a five percent Year-on-Year increase. 
The cruise sector experienced significant growth in the first quarter of 2025, with passenger arrivals surpassing last quarter by 53 percent. In the second and third quarter however, several cruise lines adjusted their itineraries as vessels were pulled from the fleet or from the Caribbean region, which resulted in fewer passengers.
Arrivals dropped seven percent and 10 percent in the second and third quarters, respectively. Double digit growth was recorded in the last two months of Quarter 4. This growth however, was not sufficient to outweigh the drop in arrivals experienced in October, following the cancellation of cruise calls due to the passage of Hurricane Melissa. Despite the late-quarter rebound, arrivals for the final quarter of 2025 closed six percent below the same period in 2024.
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Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands – Wednesday, 11 February 2026: The Informal Settlements Unit (ISU) coordinated a multi-agency enforcement operation on Thursday, 29 January 2026, led by the Planning Department, with support from the Crown Land
Unit, the Turks and Caicos Islands Border Force, and security provided by the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force. The operation, carried out at three different locations in Providenciales, formed part of ongoing government efforts to address unauthorised development and illegal occupation of land in accordance with governing legislation.
The operation commenced in Blue Hills, where five Section 58 Enforcement Notices were issued on unauthorised structures identified on Block and Parcel 60502/48.
Enforcement activity then moved to a second location off the Leeward Highway near Caicos Lodge, where six Section 58 Enforcement Notices were issued on additional unauthorised structures on Block and Parcel 60802/66.
The final phase of the operation took place in The Bight, where three unauthorised structures were removed, with all debris cleared from the site in keeping with established safety and environmental protocols.
The Informal Settlements Unit remains committed to working alongside its partner agencies to support lawful development, protect public and private land, and ensure that planning regulations are enforced in a coordinated and transparent manner across the Turks and Caicos Islands. Similar joint operations will continue as part of the Government’s wider strategy to address unauthorised development and informal settlement activity.
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