Saint Lucia: The government of Saint Lucia has recently shared the milestone that the island’s tourism sector has recently achieved. The data shared reveals a significant increase of 9% in terms of the arrival of the visitors to the island in the May 2024 as compared to May 2023.
It has been revealed that the island welcomed 36,375 stay-over travellers in May this year and marked a 9% increase in comparison to the May 2023. Also, counting the total arrivals from the beginning of the year till May 2024 the number comes up to 660,521. This number represent a 4% growth if compared to the visit that were counted last year for the same period.
The government has shared that all this has been possible to achieve due to the vibrant Saint Lucia Jazz and Arts Festival, implementation of impactful marketing strategy and increased connectivity to Saint Lucia.
Significantly, the Saint Lucia Jazz and Arts Festival is considered a highlight and a major event in the calendar of island’s cultural events. This event alone draws thousands of visitors from across the globe to the island nation of Saint Lucia.
Also, the 2024 Jazz and Arts Festival proved to be the combination of several artists that are exceptionally popular and talented and a wide variety of activities that covered arts and culture which glued the audiences and also the rich heritage of Saint Lucia adds into the factor that contributes in the increased travellers.
This milestone is achieved after continuous extensive marketing campaigns that lead to the global visibility of the island nation and the festival which attracted more visitors.
It has also been taken into consideration that the tie-up with Air Adelphi and Sunrise Airways made the island easily accessible and increased connectivity.
The ministry also shared the Year-to-date figures, which showcase a 2% increase in cruise arrivals 2023, similar to 2019, and a 10% increase in stay-over arrivals from 2023, which is 5% higher than in 2019.
In January,2024 the island had 36,863 stay-over visitors, which turns out to be an impressive 8% growth against the numbers achieved in 2023 and also 7% increase over 2019.
The stay-over numbers achieved in February 2024 were 38,837 and 44,561 in March 2024, which was a 12% and 13% rise as compared to the similar months in 2023.
Similarly, in April 2024, 9% increase in number was achieved from previous year, totalling it to 37,588.
This achievement was hailed by Dr. Ernest Hilaire, Minister of Tourism, while he was proud of this milestone and thanked the travellers, stakeholders and partners involved.
