Rival Jamaica had threatened to take the top spot when it posted its own 2015 figures earlier this year, but it now looks like it has been unable to take the crown.
Barbados welcomed 218,084 UK visitors, representing 37% of the overall total. This compared with 201,364 total UK and Ireland arrivals in Jamaica last year.
The US remains the second most popular source market. Total arrivals rose 13.7% to reach 591,892.
Cheryl Carter, Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc’s UK director, said 2015 had been the country’s “best year” for arrivals.
She put the increase down to a “very robust” marketing campaign, which included press trips and the visit of TV show Made in Chelsea.
The country’s Brilliant Barbados promotion was also key in driving interest, Carter said.
Barbados’s improvement came despite the loss of a Thomas Cook service over the summer.
“We’re actually… quite happy with the results. When you look at it against the backdrop of a loss of about 6,500 seats, we were still able to improve our performance.
Airlift to the country is set to remain pretty much the same in 2016, but there will be no winter service from Glasgow to Barbados.
“If we are going to grow obviously we’re going to have to find ways to move visitors via two-centre holiday options so that we can capitalise on the code share that both BA and Virgin enjoy with North American carriers,” she said.
Barbados is, however, set to see a host of new hotel developments for 2016 and beyond.
The Sands, formerly Sandy Beach, is opening this autumn and Sandals is also expanding.
More than $1 billion in new hotel investment is planned, which will produce about 2,300 rooms over the next five years.
Meanwhile, Carter said the rivalry with Jamaica was definitely a friendly one, adding “We represent one of the richest regions in the world, certainly in terms of lifestyle, culture and personality. We’re very passionate people – we’re very similar but we’re very different at the same time “We share [a lot of things] but we do compete… there’s that friendly rivalry. But there’s enough business there for all of us.”
