August cruise arrivals up 57%
(CNS Business): So far this year, cruise ship passenger arrivals are up 17.27% on last year’s figure, with the numbers for August showing a significant rise of 56.78% to 105,936 passengers (up from 67,571 in 2013) from just 16 ships. Year to date cruise arrivals are 17.27% higher in 2014 versus 2013.
Air arrivals for the month were the highest air arrivals figures for the month of August since the year 2000, totalling 30,564, a rise of 24.53% over August 2013, when 24,543 stay-over visitors came to the Cayman Islands.
The latest statistics from the Department of Tourism also show a steady climb in air arrivals for the year-to-date at 11.73%.
“This is an impressive year of positive numbers and is clearly demonstrating our strength in destination marketing as well as enhanced tourism partner collaborations,†said Tourism Minister Moses Kirkconnell. “We saw the inclusion of Cayman Brac into our cruise schedule this year and I am pleased to say there will be more visits in the months to come and continuing into 2015,†the Minister said. “It is the goal of my administration to create jobs and spread the economic benefit to all people of the Cayman Islands.â€
Visitation overall has outperformed recent years and the DoT says the islands are on pace to exceed 2013 performance.
“These arrivals are the result of the innovative plans and well-informed strategies that my department have been activating, not only in 2014 but in recent years. We take a long-term strategic approach to this very important pillar of the economy in order to see these outcomes year over year,†said Director of Tourism Rosa Harris. “The main business objective of the Department of Tourism is to increase arrivals to the Cayman Islands and these figures prove that hard work and sector collaboration are key ingredients to our continued success.â€
 The statistics can be found at www.caymanislands.ky/statistics.
Category: Cruise Tourism, Stay-over tourism, Tourism
