Tourist Arrivals Up on Turks and Caicos
Statistics released by the Turks and Caicos Islands Tourist Board show that combined long stay and cruise arrivals for 2009 increased by 12.5 per cent over 2008.
In 2009, there were 513,928 cruise passengers; a 21 percent increase over the 404,952 passengers who came to the Turks and Caicos Islands in 2008. Last year, there were 351, 498 long stay visitors. This was 773 persons (or 0.21 percent) less than the 352,271 visitors who came to the country by plane in 2008.
“Seeing increases in cruise ship arrivals and a minimal decrease in long stay arrivals confirms that our islands are still one of the most sought after vacation destinations,” Ralph Higgs Director of Tourism for the Turks and Caicos Tourist Board, said in a press statement. He continued, “We anticipate that 2010 will be a strong tourism year. We are seeing an increase in our tourist arrivals, additional flights to the islands, approval for the expansion of the Providenciales International Airport, as well as a number of resorts properties to be added to the accommodation collection.”
Read more at SunTCI.com.