Economic and Financial Review - June 2019

June 2019 Economic and Financial Review DOMESTIC ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS

The increase in total visitor arrivals was the result of an improvement in all sub- categories of visitors, particularly cruise and stay-overs. The number of cruise-ship visitors, which accounted for 71.1 per cent of total visitor arrivals, rose by 5.1 per cent to 2.1m, a deceleration compared with growth of 7.8 per cent recorded one year ago. The countries which contributed to the improved performance in the cruise category were The Commonwealth of Dominica, which experienced more than seven fold growth; Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (6.5 per cent), Saint Lucia (1.0 per cent), Grenada (0.4 per cent) and Montserrat (25.8 per cent).

Additionally, stay-over visitor arrivals grew by 16.1 per cent to 692,126, in contrast to a 0.7 per cent decline recorded in the first half of 2018. Stay-over arrivals from the USA, the largest source market, increased by 18.5 per cent to 310,951, in contrast to a decrease of 0.9 per cent in the corresponding period of 2018. The number of stay-over visitors from the Caribbean, the second largest source, grew by 16.4 per cent to 122,223, following growth of 2.1 per cent recorded in the comparable period of the prior year. The UK, the region’s third largest market, recorded growth in stay-over arrivals of 10.6 per cent and in Canada, the smallest market, the number of passengers increased by 9.5 per cent, following growth of 13.8 per cent in the first half of 2018.

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Eastern Caribbean Central Bank