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2018 Annual Economic and Financial Review
DOMESTIC ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS
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4
Eastern Caribbean Central Bank
Montserrat
(5.0
per
cent))
and
St Vincent and the Grenadines (2.2 per cent).
Higher value added in the construction sector
was moderated somewhat by lower activity in
Saint Lucia, where a decline of 17.0 per cent
was recorded, as major planned investment
projects experienced implementation delays.
Developments in the hotels and restaurants
sector, a proxy for activity in the tourism
industry, were marked by an estimated
expansion of 2.1 per cent in value added in
contrast to a marginal decline (0.1 per cent) in
the previous year. On an individual territory
basis, six countries recorded increases in
tourism output, which more than offset
declines in the remaining territories. The
improved performance in the hotels and
restaurants sector largely reflected growth in
the total number of visitors to the Currency
Union, particularly in the cruise ship and
stay-over sub-categories.
The number of cruise passengers, which
represented 71.5 per cent of total visitor
arrivals, grew by 9.4 per cent to 3.4m
compared with growth of 12.1 per cent
recorded in 2017. The improved performance
in the cruise sub-sector stemmed from growth
in arrivals in five member countries,
notwithstanding an 8.4 per cent decline in the
number of cruise ship calls to regional ports.
The highest expansion in the cruise ship sub-
category was noted in Saint Lucia, where
arrivals grew by 13.6 per cent (91,089),
supported by increases of 8.1 per cent
(86,125) in St Kitts and Nevis, 7.4 per cent
(56,582) in Antigua and Barbuda,
25.1
per
cent
(43,640)
in
St Vincent and the Grenadines and
14.5 per cent (43,397) in Grenada. The
impact of these increases was mitigated by
declines of 14.4 per cent (22,574) in Dominica
and 39.8 per cent (2,834) in Montserrat. As a
share of total cruise passenger arrivals to the
region, St Kitts and Nevis represents
33.6 per cent, Antigua and Barbuda,
24.0 per cent and Saint Lucia, 22.1 per cent.
Stay-over visitor arrivals rose by 2.5 per cent
to 1.1m, an acceleration from the pace of
expansion of 1.0 per cent recorded in 2017.
The performance in this sub-category
reflected growth in the number of visitors
from all the major source markets. The
number of stay-over visitors from the USA,
the largest of this category, increased by
1.9 per cent in contrast to a decline of
0.4 per cent recorded in the prior year.