Total Overnight Tourist Arrivals – The Belize Tourism Board is happy to announce the positive statistics from its second quarter tourism reports. The Belize Tourism Industry’s overnight sector, emerging out of the pangs of the 2008 global recession, has recorded a 6.7% increase when compared to the same period in 2010. The BTB’s Second Quarter Report attributes this impressive increase to April 2011, where a spike of 19.8% was recorded. In fact, the record-breaking overnight arrival surpassed all other months in the second quarter of the last four years.
The first half of the year also shows a cumulative increase of 3.2% in the number of overnight arrivals, matching projections made by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
Airline Tourist Arrival
This year’s second quarter figures have also accounted for a notable 7.2% growth in the number of overnight tourists arriving via the Philip Goldson International Airport, marking an overall growth of 5.8% for the first half of 2011 as compared to this same period in 2010.
Cruise Tourist Arrivals
The cruise arrival figures for this year’s second quarter, when measured against those for 2010, now boast a net increase of 10.8%. While an overall 11% decrease remains for the first half of the year, major increases in May and June signal the restart of a long-awaited impetus for the Belize Cruise Industry.
Competitive Destination
Looking at the figures from a regional perspective, the report also shows that the fluctuations experienced in Belize ran parallel with the statistical norms in competing destinations such as Aruba and Barbados. This signals an important status change for Belize, as our country has with its much smaller budget—managed to match countries whose figures were known to surpass ours.
