A keenly awaited tourism rebound has been reported for 2023, with total visitor arrivals climbing to 714,000 — compared with 808,000 recorded in 2019.

The island’s first year without Covid-19 restrictions was “a significant turning point” for the industry, the Bermuda Tourism Authority reported.

Its prognosis for 2024 came with an expected 25 per cent boost to the island’s “critical” metric of air capacity.

The coming April and May air figures are projected to climb above 2019 levels.

Recovery is credited to the launch last year of BermudAir, along with the growth of services by JetBlue, United and American Airlines.

“More routes are now served to Bermuda than pre-pandemic, including restoring of all previous groups and adding Fort Lauderdale, Westchester County and the Azores.”

BermudAir’s Baltimore and Orlando links, set to debut this March, mean the airline will connect to “five US East Coast cities”, the BTA highlighted.

Additionally, the island’s direct flights from Washington are set to return this April for the first time since Covid-19 shut Bermuda down in early 2020.

In its review of 2023, the BTA cited reduced hotel inventory as limiting visitor numbers along with “a full return to 2019 air capacity levels”. The 185,000 air visitors in 2023 was down markedly on 269,000 for 2019.

Cruise figures rallied to 525,000, compared with 536,000 pre-pandemic levels.

The 2023 visitor arrivals report showed the island continuing its climb out of the trough of 2020-21.

Last year’s overall visitor numbers grew 29.1 per cent on 2022, with the cruise sector topping the recovery, with a 30.5 per cent rise.

A nearly one-third drop in yacht visitors was attributed to the absence of the Newport Bermuda Race in 2023.

Hotel inventory stayed flat last year at about 75 per cent of 2019 numbers — but occupancy was up 15.5 per cent year-on-year.

The 2023 report gave a detailed breakdown of the coveted metric of air visitors, whose spending in Bermuda is significantly above that of cruise travellers.

Air visitor spending was recorded at $341.3 million, while cruise visitors spent $150.8 million on the island in 2023.

The United States tops air travellers, with 133,263 out of 185,335 — 72 per cent of last year’s total.

The bulk of US visitors flew from New York, at 34.7 per cent of the total.

Chicago, a small market at 1.7 per cent, showed the largest rebound over 2022, surging 42.5 per cent on the previous year.

Commercial properties were more popular than hotels last year for air visitor accommodation, taking in 124,944 guests compared with 121,848 staying in “hotels or similar”.

The report closed with the BTA’s 2024 outlook saying that “all signs point to continuing the positive trajectory experienced in 2023”.

It highlighted more developments with the scheduled opening of the Bermudiana Beach Resort, boosting hotel inventory by 110 rooms.

There are 186 cruise ships forecast this year, expected to deliver “record-breaking passenger numbers”, the BTA added.