A steep drop in cruise ship visits caused a nearly 50 per cent decline in tourist visits during the first quarter of the year, according to Bermuda Tourism Authority statistics

Tourism Industry Measures published on the BTA website showed that while there was a more than 10 per cent increase in leisure air arrivals in the first three months of the year, that increase was more than offset by a 68.7 per cent decline in cruise ship arrivals.

The figures showed 13,368 visitors arriving on cruises during the quarter, compared with 42,715 visitors during the same period last year.

The site did not give a reason for the cancellations — but the season typically comes with winter gales that have affected cruise visits in previous years.

According to the 2025 Cruise Ship Schedule, ten ships were scheduled to visit Bermuda during the quarter — however, four of those visits were cancelled.

As a result of the cancellations, no ships visited the island in January and only one reached the island’s shores in February — the remaining five ships all arrived in March.

Comparatively, 14 of the 20 scheduled cruise ship visits took place in the same period in 2024.

However, air arrivals during the period were more positive, with 16,019 visitors flying to the island in the period compared with 14,490 in 2024, an increase of 10.6 per cent.

Visitors who flew to the island reportedly spent $28.9 million in Bermuda during the quarter, up from the $26.9 million during the first quarter of 2024.

Visitor air arrivals spent an average of 5.88 days on the island, down from 6.04 days during the first quarter of 2024, but hotel occupancy rose by 11.8 per cent.

The average daily rate for hotel rooms rose by $32.42, an 8.4 per cent year-on-year increase, with revenue per available room rising $34.63, or 21.1 per cent.

Air capacity rose by 1.8 per cent with 97,509 seats on Bermuda-bound flights and air load — the percentage of seats filled — rose from 63.4 per cent to 66.6 per cent.

Yacht passengers also increased year-on-year, with 654 passengers arriving on Bermuda’s shore by yacht during the quarter compared with 511 during the same period last year.

Overall, the BTA reported 29,387 visitors to the island in the quarter, down from the 57,205 last year.

While the number of scheduled cruise ship visits was down in the first quarter, the summer is expected to be busier than 2024, with 76 calls between the start of this month and the end of August, compared with 69 recorded during the same period for 2024.

In January, Wayne Furbert, the Minister of Transport at the time, projected that a total of 510,250 cruise ship passengers were expected to visit the island this year, down from 535,356 in 2024.