Source: Saint Lucia Tourist Board
Tuesday 1st February, 2010

Stay-over arrivals as reported by the Saint Lucia Tourist Board for 2010, indicate that this year was a record one, achieving the highest number of arrivals in the island’s history, despite several threats to impact the industry including the passage of Hurricane Tomas in the fourth quarter, and the Islandic ash cloud in April and bad weather in major source markets in December. The successes recorded in the first nine months of the year, heavily contributed to the overall total stay-over arrivals of 305,937; an increase of 10% from 2009 and 1% from 2006 – the second best year to date. The US remained the largest source market, accounting for 42% of arrivals,
while the UK market captured the second largest share at 22%, followed by the Caribbean market at 18% and Canada at 10%.

Year to date cruise passenger arrivals totaled 670,043, a 4.2% decrease from 2009. Total visitor arrivals by yacht at the Rodney Bay Marina for 2010, was 32,052 (a 0.2% decrease from the same period in 2009), while the figure recorded for the year at Marigot Bay was 10,259, bringing total arrivals by yacht for the year to 42,311.  The residual effects of Hurricane Tomas, coupled with the cancellation of three major international flights due to poor weather conditions, had a negative impact on arrivals during the month of December. A total of 26,548 arrivals were recorded, down 3% from the same period last year, however still 1% higher than December 2008 and 5%
more than December 2005. Increases were recorded in three main source markets – the US market grew by 15%, from 9,170 arrivals in 2009 to 10,507 in 2010; 677 arrivals recorded from France, a 22% increase due in part by the introduction of a new charter service from Paris; and The German market recorded a 19% increase, up from 377 arrivals last year.

All other markets experienced declines in December, the largest of which was the Caribbean market, falling from 5,488 arrivals in 2009 to 3,927 in 2010 – a 28% decrease. Visitor arrivals from the UK market fell by 7% to 6,064, while the Canadian market recorded 3,505 arrivals or a decline of 5% from the same period last year. The cruise sector also experienced negative growth in December, with cruise calls falling from 67 to 63, and arrivals from 109,855 to 107,371. The yachting sector also reported a 3% decrease in the number of calls (from 705 to 680) and a 9% decline in arrivals for the same period last year.