Tourists arrivals increase as Saint Lucia becomes destination of choice
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Tourists arrivals increase as Saint Lucia becomes destination of choice |
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Contact: Shannon Lebourne
Wednesday 2 March 2011 – Latest statistics from the Saint Lucia Tourist Board indicate that stay-over arrivals for the month of January, increased by 4% from the same period last year.
A total of 27,010 visitors were recorded in the month of January marking the highest number of arrivals for the month since January 2005.
According to the Tourist Board, several activities contributed to this increase, including the introduction of a direct flight between Paris and Saint Lucia, the hosting of the OECS Sports Meet, and the results of marketing efforts in the past few months.
By major source markets, the US recorded the highest number of arrivals as well as the largest increase of 10,137 arrivals—an 8% increase from January 2010.
The second best performance was by the Canadian market which saw a 3% increase from 2010, with 5,722 arrivals.
The United Kingdom (UK) was the third largest market for the month with a total of 5,514 arrivals, despite the 7% decrease from 2010.The decrease may be due in part to the increase in Air Passenger Duties.
Cruise calls for the month of January fell in comparison to the same period last year, from 65 to 53, resulting in a 12% drop in arrivals.
The yachting sector also reported an overall 10% decrease in the number of calls—12% at Rodney Bay and 4% at Marigot Bay Marina.
However the Tourist Board says there was a 2% increase in the number of arrivals by yacht which totalled 4,582, two-thirds of whom came in at the Rodney Bay Marina and the other one-third at Marigot Bay. |
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