Despite challenges, Turks & Caicos’ main economic engine - the tourism sector - continues to perform above expectations.

U.S. tour operators are now uniting each other to limit the damages that happened on the heels of tighter travel restrictions on Americans to Cuba.

In the last week of June, Kenwood Travel is 33% up for bookings and British Airways Holidays 85% in the same period. Kuoni says it has seen a “sharp” increase in Antigua honeymoon enquiries in the last month.

Global tourist destinations received 369m international arrivals (overnight visitors) in the first four months of the year – a growth of +6 percent year-on-year, according to the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

The island welcomed more than 2.66 million foreign visitors, up 23.2 percent compared to the same period in 2016, according to the Tourism Minister, Manuel Marrero.

This summer, the State’s Secretariat of Tourism Promotion expects to reach a record high figure, as visitor numbers could reach five million during this holiday season, with an average hotel occupancy of 95 percent along the Riviera Maya.