Summer visitors fall but annual figures remain steady

(CNS): Although the Cayman Islands saw a dip in arrival numbers this summer by air and sea compared to last year, so far the overall figures for both cruise passengers and overnight guests are still higher this year than 2014, a year in which Cayman recorded its highest number of overnight visitors since records began. Between the beginning of January and the end of September over 295,000 stay-over tourists had visited Cayman, an increase of 0.62% over the same period in 2014.

And despite complaints from the cruise sector that they are suffering from a lack of visitors, so far this year over 1.2 million passengers have docked in George Town Harbour, an increase of more than 3% over the same period in 2014.

With statistics from October not yet reported and two more months to go, Cayman could see another record-breaking year for its overnight tourist numbers and could easily exceed its cruise passenger tally for last year, reaching pre-recession numbers last seen in 2007.

Despite a drop of 3.5%  in July and 5.2% in August, air arrivals rebounded in September with an increase of 13.44% on last year’s numbers. Cruise numbers fell by just over 4% in July and 5% in August compared to 2014, but the trend appeared to be reversing in September with a less than 1% decrease on September 2014. Given the increase in numbers at the beginning of the year, as high season begins cruise numbers are expected to rise again.

Category: Cruise Tourism, Stay-over tourism, Tourism