ANTIGUA AND Barbuda continues to attract thousands to its shores, according to recent gures which show there has been continual growth in visitor arrivals by air and sea throughout 2018.
The region was savaged by Hurricane Maria last year but that hasn’t put people off choosing the famous islands and their attractions, for holidays. According to the quarterly visitor arrivals report released by the statistics department within the Ministry of Tourism and Investment, in the third quarter of the year, Antigua and Barbuda saw increases in arrivals for the period when compared to 2017.
Some 52,491 visitors arrived by air to Antigua and Barbuda, an 8.56 per cent increase from 2017. Between July and September, 26,631 visitors arrived by sea, an increase of 36.44 per cent compared to the total sea arrivals for the previous year.
The 11.99 per cent growth in arrivals from the US, the destination’s largest
source market, has contributed to the rise in arrivals for the third quarter of 2018.
Meanwhile, the number of visitors from the UK saw a slight decrease of 2.25 per cent from 2017 to 2018.
BOOST
The Canadian market saw an impressive performance, with a growth of 111.79 per cent as the market continues to bene t from increased airlift, brought on by the addition of Sunwing Airlines since November last year, while the Caribbean market continues to hold its own with relatively unchanged figures.
When it comes to the whole year, January to September, the total visitor arrivals recorded for Antigua and Barbuda stand at 744,390, an increase of 12.18 per cent when compared to 2017.
Visitor arrivals will continue to increase for the remainder of 2018 with signi cant increased airlift from North America as well as a full cruise schedule expected to boost the numbers and the islands’ tourism economy.
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