Visitor spending up
Tue, 11/01/2016 - 12:00am
Visitor spend is up in Barbados!
Information coming out of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation’s (CTO) quarterly exit survey for the January to June period, illustrated that spending by stay-on visitors increased year-on-year by 10.3 per cent or $104 million to reach $1.1 billion.
Tourists from the United Kingdom spent 11.4 per cent more than for the corresponding period in 2015, contributing approximately $498 million or 45 per cent of the overall expenditure. Meanwhile, those from the United States accounted for 23 per cent of the total expenditure and recorded a spend of $256 million; a significant increase of 31.7 per cent over 2015. Those from Canada followed with a spend of $156 million, while those Caribbean and European visitors totalled an estimated $102 million and $74 million, respectively. Within the ‘Other countries’ category, an estimated $30 million was recorded.
The survey further showed that stay-over arrivals grew by 5.6 per cent or 24 178 arrivals more than last year’s 432 909 for the corresponding period.
In terms of market performance, the United Kingdom continued to be the largest tourist generating market for Barbados, representing 34 per cent of visitors to the destination. During the period January to September 2016, this market produced a total of 157 324 stay-over visitors, an increase of 2.6 per cent, or an additional 3 990 visitors when compared to the same period in 2015. This positive performance was reflected in all of the months with the exception of April and July. The largest growth in arrivals from this market was recorded during the month of January at 16.4 per cent.
The number two market was the United States with market share growing from 26 per cent during the first nine months of 2015 to 27 per cent during the corresponding period of 2016.
Meanwhile, those numbers coming out of Brazil dropped by 20 per cent this year. However, this decline was offset by the 27.7 per cent increase in arrivals from the other countries in this market. The positive performance was the result of a significant increase in arrivals out of Colombia, due to the new Avianca service; the number of Colombian visitors grew from 368 during the period January to September 2015, to 1 761 during the same period of 2016. There was also an increase in visitor arrivals from Argentina; some 566 arrivals were recorded, some 234 or 70.5 per cent additional visitors over 2015. (JMB)