Caribbean tourism is booming, and Canadians can share some of the credit.

Spurred on by a 24% rise in arrivals from the United States and a 4% rise from Canadians, the Caribbean recorded a healthy 12% increase in tourist arrivals during the first quarter of 2019, according to statistics compiled by the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO).

In updating the media on the region’s performance at a news conference hosted at the Wyndham New Yorker Hotel as part of Caribbean Week New York, CTO chairman Dominic Fedee revealed that between January and March this year there were 9.1 million international tourist trips to the region, up by 970,000 over the corresponding period last year.

The arrivals boom extended to the cruise sector as well, with a single quarter record 10.7 million cruise passengers visits, an increase of 9.9%, or 900,000 more arrivals when compared to the same period in 2018.

Due to its bullish economy, high consumer confidence and the strength of the U.S. dollar against global currencies , the United States was the strongest performinig market during the first quarter, with 4.5 million tourist visits, while Canada’s 1.5 million visits to the Caribbean represented a strong four per cent rise. That means 16.5% of visitors were Canadian; roughly one in six.

On the other hand, the performance of the European market was less encouraging, with arrivals up marginally by 0.6 per cent. Of the 1.6 million tourist arrivals from Europe during the first quarter, 300,000 came from the United Kingdom (up 0.1 per cent), while arrivals from Germany fell by 8.1 per cent to 200,000 tourist visits. The Caribbean (up 1.8%) and Latin American (up 1.6%) markets also recorded growth, although at a much slower pace that the major makets.

The overall healthy growth in both stayover and cruise visits, coupled with a 1.4% in available airline seats durng first quarter of 2019 - bringing to 12.4 million the number of international seats attracted to the region during the period - the CTO is bullish in its forecast for the year, predicting an eight per cent to nine per cent increase in tourist arrivals, along with 5.5% to 6.5% growth in cruise arrivals.

Visit www.OneCaribbean.org more information on the performance of the region.