Antigua and Barbuda Poised for Record Year in Tourism Arrivals

The twin islands of Antigua and Barbuda are celebrating the successful growth of their U.S. tourism market that has shown remarkable double-digit growth in the previous three months with incredibly strong forward bookings.

The U.S. remains Antigua and Barbuda’s lead market with total arrivals for 2015 so far at 94,617. These positive results are due to the combination of an aggressive North American Sales & Marketing Road Show in the latter half of 2015, a strategic marketing and advertising campaign, a 14 percent increase in airlift with the launch of JetBlue Airways' New York-to-Antigua service, and having some of the lowest fares available to the Caribbean.

Antigua and Barbuda has been experiencing increased visibility across its major markets. Double-digit growth across key markets in the Northeast, Southeast and West Coast, indicates that the destination is on the path to even more positive growth.  

December 2015 figures show that the Eastern Seaboard, New York and New Jersey had a combined increase of 55.98 percent, while Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island had a combined increase of 93.41 percent and Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. had a combined increase of 32.04 percent.

In the South, Georgia, Alabama, Oklahoma and Tennessee show strong growth with a combined 62.24 percent increase. The Midwest showed incredibly strong growth in Michigan and Kansas, with a combined 80.66 percent increase.

The West, traditionally not a strong market for the Caribbean, saw exponential growth in Washington, Arizona and Oregon with a combined increase of 89.97 percent. Utah alone had a 66.67 percent increase. January figures continues this upward trend showing positive signs as an overall increase in visitors was up 11.61 percent with 9,322 visitors. Initial figures suggest this growth will be similar in February and should continue this upward trend throughout the remainder of 2016.

Source: Travel Agent Central