In 2017, The Americas welcomed 207 million international tourist arrivals, with most destinations enjoying positive results, and the Caribbean obtaining a +4% increase. Amidst the trail of devastation that the hurricane season left in its wake, the tourism sector within the Caribbean reached a milestone of surpassing 30 million stay-over tourist visits and an estimated US $37 billion in total visitor spending.

The Household Budget Survey (HBS) is a sample survey among households with the broad aim to collect household expenditure and income data. Fieldwork for the latest HBS was conducted in 2015, over a period of 8 months from April to December.