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Contact: Saint Lucia Tourist Board
Thursday, 28 August 2008 – Preliminary figures released by the St Lucia Tourist Board show, the number of stopover tourists (visitors staying 24 hours or more) arriving from the United Kingdom, increased by 2% in July 2008 to 7,060 visitors, compared with the 6,932 visitors who arrived from the UK in July 2007.
The overall number of stopover visitors arriving this July in St Lucia declined slightly however by 2%, from 29,825 in July 2007 to 29,095 this July, due largely to declines in arrivals from Caribbean markets. The volume of cruise visitors increased by 15%—when compared with July 2007—growing from 20,024 visitors in 2007, to 20,954 visitors this July.
The number of visitors from the USA fell slightly by 1%, from 11,522 in July 2007 to 11,411 this July. Arrivals from Canada showed a good 20% increase from 809 in July 2007 to 973 this July. The number of visitors from other European countries jumped 16% compared with last July, from 1,075 to 1,243, led by a strong increase from Ireland (up 1,022%) from 23 arrivals in July 2007 to 258 this July. Arrivals from Germany (21%) and France (+16%) also showed good increases.
Traffic from Caribbean markets showed a 13% decline compared with July 2007, falling from 9,111 visitors last year to 7,945 in July 2008. Whilst traffic from Trinidad and Tobago grew by 5%, from 991 last July to 1,041 this July, the number of arrivals from Martinique fell by 13%, from 3,675 in July 2007 to 3,193 this year, and from Barbados fell by 20%, from 1,557 arrivals last year to 1,250 in July 2008.
Through the first seven months of 2008 the overall number of stopover visitors was 7% higher than for the same seven months of 2007, increasing from 177,646 visitors in 2007 to 190,325 in 2008.
Traffic from the USA increased by 6.5% in the first seven months of 2008, up from 70,502 arrivals in 2007 to 75,085 in the first seven months of 2008. The volume of stopovers from the United Kingdom also showed strong growth, increasing by 8%, from 48,603 arrivals in 2007 to 52,421 in the first seven months of 2008. The number of stopover arrivals from the Caribbean fell by 2% in the first seven months of 2008 compared with the same seven months of 2007, with traffic from Martinique growing by 2%, but declining 2% from Barbados.
The number of cruise visitors to St Lucia increased by 10% in the first seven months of 2008 compared with the same seven months of 2007, growing from 359,949 visitors in 2007 to 397,115 this year, with cruise ships making 13 more calls in the first seven months of 2008 compared with the same seven months of 2007. |
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