Caribbean Welcomes 2.1 Million Canadians In First Half Of 2016

TORONTO, Nov 23 2016 – The Caribbean welcomed approximately 2.1 million Canadians during the first six months of 2016 Secretary General of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation Hugh Riley said.

This represents a decline of 3.7 per cent when compared to the same period last year; and has been attributed to the depreciation of the Canadian dollar with respect to the US dollar.

“We saw the numbers fall during each of the first six months, with the exception of May which was flat,” Riley told journalists here on Tuesday.

“In the first quarter we recorded a decline of 3.9 percent, and a slightly better performance in the second quarter, which recorded a drop of 3.3 percent when compared to the same period in 2015.”

Eight of the 24 reporting destinations recorded growth, with highs of 24.9 percent in the Turks and Caicos Islands and 14.1 percent in Suriname. 

Barbados, Curacao, Dominican Republic, Guyana, St. Maarten and St. Vincent & the Grenadines registered moderate growth.

Cuba remained the top Caribbean destination for Canadians during the first half of this year, receiving over 527 thousand visitors, down 4.3 percent when compared to last year.