SVG’s visitor arrivals up by 7.1 per cent

Visitor arrivals to St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) for the first five months of 2019 have increased by 7.1 percent.

Provisional figures for the period January to May show that 232, 916 visitors came to SVG for the year thus far, compared with 217,453 in 2018. This is reflective of an additional 15,463 visitors to the destination, a release from the St Vincent and the Grenadines Tourism Authority (SVGTA) said.

Arrivals by air also increased by 7.1per cent with a total of 36,757 in 2019 compared with 34,335 in 2018 or a difference of 2,486 stay-over visitors. The Canadian market registered the greatest increase for stay-over arrivals with an increase of 16.9 per cent while the USA market registered an increase of 11.4 per cent followed by the UK market with an increase of 10 per cent.

Yacht arrivals grew by 7.6 per cent during the months of January to May with a total of 37,926 yacht visitors for the five-month period in 2019 compared with 35,240 for the same period in 2018. A total of 158,233 cruise visitors arrived in the destination for the same period registering an increase of 7.0% over the 147,878 cruise visitors for the comparative period in 2018.

“Since the opening of the Argyle International Airport in February 2017 three international carriers have been weekly operating non-stop flights to the destination. Earlier this month American Airlines announced a second weekly flight to the AIA from December 2019 when the airline will operate the current Saturday service along with a Wednesday service.

The American Airline non-stop service to the Argyle International Airport will complement Caribbean Airlines’ weekly Wednesday non-stop service from JFK International, USA and Air Canada Rouge’s weekly Thursday non-stop service from Pearson International, Canada. Air Canada Rouge will again operate a second weekly Sunday non-stop service for the winter season commencing December 15, 2019,” the release said.