Montserrat Tourism Arrivals Up 22 Percent in First Seven Months of 2010

Montserrat Tourism Arrivals Up 22 Percent in First Seven Months of 2010
By S. Coward

Figures recently released by the government’s statistics department show a very strong growth in Montserrat’s tourism arrivals for the first half of 2010. For the period January to July 2010, total arrivals grew by close to 22 percent.

A total of 4,863 visitors came to Montserrat for the first seven months of 2010, an overall increase of 866 visitors or 21.7 percent, when compared to the same period in 2009. This comprised of 3,141 stay-over or overnight visitors, 1,029 day trippers and 693 cruise passengers.

While the important stay-over visitor market did decline by just over 7 percent for the period, there were some bright spots with this market, namely, the growth by 3 percent in the number of visitors staying in paid tourist accommodations and the 11 percent growth in persons, within this segment, coming for leisure purposes.

Additionally, while stay-over visitors from two of Montserrat’s main markets, the USA and the United Kingdom, declined slightly, arrivals from the OECS (Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States), Canada and Continental Europe showed good growth of 6.6 percent, 9.1 percent and 21.4 percent respectively.