Antigua and Barbuda’s officials the tourism product continues to attract thousands, with continued growth in visitor arrivals by air and sea throughout 2018.
The quarterly visitor arrivals report released by the statistics department within the Ministry of Tourism and Investment, show increases for the months of July to September, 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 when compared to the total sea arrivals for the previous year 2017.
An 11.99 per cent growth in arrivals from the U.S. market, the destination’s largest source market, has contributed to the rise in arrivals for the third quarter of 2018 while the U.K. market experienced a slight decrease of -2.25 per cent from 2017 to 2018.
The Canadian market saw an impressive performance with a growth of 111.79 per cent as the market continues to benefit 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.
Overall from January to September 2018, 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 significant increased airlift from North America as well as a full cruise schedule.
