Virtuoso Says Anguilla, Turks and Caicos, St. Barth, Antigua and Barbuda, and the Cayman Islands Are Leading Festive Travel

The Christmas and New Year travel period is shaping up as a major Caribbean selling opportunity for travel advisors, with five Caribbean destinations appearing among Virtuoso’s 10 leading countries for festive travel and several islands also landing among the network’s most popular individual destinations.

The findings, presented during Virtuoso Travel Week 2026, show a luxury market continuing to commit heavily to Caribbean vacations during the year-end holiday period. Anguilla, Turks and Caicos, St. Barth, Antigua and Barbuda, and the Cayman Islands all appear in Virtuoso’s ranking of the top countries for festive travel.

The results come as Virtuoso reports substantial growth in festive travel overall. Sales for the 2026 festive period are running 56 percent ahead of the comparable 2025 pace, while reservations are up 65 percent.

The data gives advisors an unusually clear picture of where high-end clients are concentrating their year-end travel spending — and the Caribbean occupies a large share of the list.

Anguilla Ranks No. 3 Among Virtuoso’s Top Festive Countries

The United States holds the No. 1 position in Virtuoso’s ranking of festive countries, followed by Mexico.

Then comes Anguilla at No. 3.

The ranking places the small Eastern Caribbean island ahead of several larger international destinations and underscores Anguilla’s continued strength in the luxury market.

The island has long offered the ingredients advisors often seek when planning festive travel: high-end resorts and villas, a strong restaurant scene, beaches, private accommodations, and a relatively intimate tourism product.

The festive period is also one of the most important weeks of the year for Anguilla’s luxury hospitality industry, when many of its leading resorts and villas command their highest rates.

Virtuoso’s destination-level rankings reinforce the island’s position. West End, Anguilla, ranks No. 8 among the network’s top individual festive destinations worldwide.

West End includes some of Anguilla’s best-known luxury accommodations and beaches, giving advisors a concentrated area for clients seeking a resort-driven holiday trip.

Turks and Caicos Takes the No. 4 Position

Turks and Caicos ranks No. 4 among Virtuoso’s leading countries for festive travel, directly behind Anguilla.

The destination has become one of the Caribbean’s strongest luxury resort and villa markets, particularly around Providenciales. Large beachfront villas, luxury resorts, private residences, and a growing restaurant scene give advisors a broad range of options across different high-end client profiles.

Providenciales also appears on Virtuoso’s list of the world’s top individual festive destinations, ranking No. 10.

The results point to continued demand for the destination during a period when prime accommodations can sell early and premium room categories become increasingly difficult to secure.

Advisors working with clients considering Turks and Caicos for Christmas or New Year’s should expect the strongest properties, villas, and preferred room categories to draw significant demand well ahead of the holidays.

Virtuoso’s broader research supports the value of early planning. The network reports global leisure sales for travel one and two years ahead are running substantially higher than last year, showing that luxury travelers are increasingly willing to commit to major trips far in advance.

St. Barth Remains a Festive Powerhouse

Few Caribbean destinations are as closely associated with the festive luxury market as St. Barth, and Virtuoso’s latest rankings show the island retaining that position.

St. Barth ranks No. 5 among the top festive countries, while the island itself ranks No. 4 among Virtuoso’s leading individual festive destinations.

The destination’s hotel portfolio, private villas, restaurants, beach clubs, boutiques, yachts, and annual concentration of affluent visitors have made the Christmas and New Year period one of the busiest points on its calendar.

The Virtuoso findings put numbers behind a pattern Caribbean advisors already see each year: clients who want St. Barth during festive often need to commit early, particularly when requesting specific villas, suites, hotel categories, or locations.

St. Barth also gives advisors considerable room to customize a high-end itinerary. Some clients prefer a hotel-centered vacation, while others choose private villas supported by chefs, drivers, boat charters, restaurant reservations, and other services.

The island’s No. 4 position globally places it ahead of several major resort destinations during one of the most competitive travel periods of the year.

Antigua and Barbuda Is Another Major Festive Player

Antigua and Barbuda ranks No. 7 among Virtuoso’s top countries for festive travel.

The twin-island destination has a broad resort portfolio ranging from intimate luxury hotels to larger beachfront resorts and private villas, giving advisors options across couples, families, multigenerational groups, and milestone trips.

Virtuoso’s individual destination ranking provides another strong result for Antigua: St. John’s ranks No. 5 among the top festive destinations worldwide.

The country’s inclusion is particularly relevant for advisors serving multigenerational groups. Virtuoso separately reports that 69 percent of advisors are seeing increased interest in multigenerational and family trips, making family travel the leading trip category in its latest advisor research.

Antigua’s variety of accommodations can fit that demand, particularly when advisors are working with families seeking larger suites, multiple rooms, villas, or resorts with extensive recreational options.

The destination also has a substantial luxury segment, allowing advisors to match festive clients with different styles of Caribbean vacations rather than relying on a single resort format.

The Cayman Islands Joins the Top 10

The Cayman Islands ranks No. 8 among Virtuoso’s leading countries for festive travel.

Grand Cayman has long been one of the Caribbean’s strongest luxury family destinations, with a concentration of high-end accommodations, private residences, restaurants, and Seven Mile Beach resorts.

The Cayman Islands result adds another Caribbean market to a top 10 otherwise containing the United States, Mexico, Costa Rica, Japan, and Canada.

Five of Virtuoso’s 10 leading festive countries are Caribbean destinations.

That degree of representation is significant for advisors deciding where to focus holiday sales conversations. The region is competing strongly with both long-haul destinations and traditional North American holiday markets during one of luxury travel’s most lucrative periods.

Festive Travel Is Growing Quickly

The Caribbean rankings come amid sharp growth across Virtuoso’s festive business.

Virtuoso defines the festive travel period as Dec. 15 through Jan. 7.

According to the network’s 2026 Travel Week presentation, festive sales measured during the first half of 2026 were 56 percent higher than the comparable period a year earlier, while reservations were 65 percent higher.

The growth follows strong festive performance in prior years and suggests affluent clients continue to treat year-end vacations as a major travel priority.

The trend also fits another finding in Virtuoso’s research: clients are increasingly prioritizing major, memorable trips.

Virtuoso advisors report that 60 percent of clients are showing greater interest in bucket-list or once-in-a-lifetime travel, while 42 percent are reserving earlier in an effort to secure preferred options.

The festive period brings those behaviors together. Clients are often spending more, traveling with larger family groups, requesting specific accommodations, and working within fixed holiday dates.

Those conditions increase the importance of early planning and detailed destination knowledge.

What Advisors Should Take From the Rankings

The Virtuoso data gives Caribbean specialists several strong sales leads heading into the remainder of 2026.

Anguilla, Turks and Caicos, St. Barth, Antigua and Barbuda, and the Cayman Islands are already drawing substantial luxury festive demand. Advisors with clients considering those destinations may need to begin conversations earlier than they have in past years, particularly when a client has specific hotel, villa, room-category, or location preferences.

The rankings also show the breadth of Caribbean festive demand.

Anguilla and St. Barth offer strong luxury and villa products. Turks and Caicos continues to attract clients seeking beachfront resorts and private residences. Antigua and Barbuda gives advisors a wide hotel range that can suit couples and larger family groups. The Cayman Islands remains particularly well positioned for upscale family vacations.

Virtuoso’s individual destination rankings add another layer. St. Barth appears at No. 4 globally, St. John’s in Antigua at No. 5, West End in Anguilla at No. 8, and Providenciales in Turks and Caicos at No. 10.

The Caribbean therefore holds four of Virtuoso’s 10 leading individual festive destinations, in addition to five positions on the country list.

For travel advisors, the message from the 2026 numbers is direct: the Christmas and New Year rush is already taking shape, and some of the luxury market’s strongest demand is headed to the Caribbean.

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