Belize City, Belize – July 17, 2014 – Tourist arrivals are up by 11.8% for the first half of this year! For the past six months, there have been increases across the board in overnight and cruise arrivals.
For overnight arrivals, we had a 7.1% increase in June of 2014, over June of 2013, with 28,727 tourist visitors. The forecast was a decrease of -2.24%. There was a 14.6% increase in the 2nd quarter, contributing to an overall increase of 11.8% in overnight tourist arrivals for the first six months of 2014. Once again, March has the highest number of arrivals with 38,712 visitors. April saw the highest increase when compared to 2013, with 23%, or a total of 38,712 arrivals.
Like previous years, March has seen the most arrivals through the Philip Goldson International Airport, having 30,754 arrivals, which is an increase of 7.4% when compared to March, 2013. The month with the highest increase when compared to 2013 was April, which saw an increase of 20.7%; a total of 21,028 arrivals.
For the first half of this year, cruise passenger arrivals are at 527,037 visitors showing an increase of almost 37%. Overall, Belize saw over 142,000 more visitors in 2014, when compared to the first half of 2013. The month of June alone recorded the highest increase with 120.2% more cruise passenger arrivals when compared to June, 2013. March has seen the most arrivals with 115,227 cruise passengers. There have been 57 more cruise ship calls in 2014 than there were in 2013 through the same time period.
The largest market for travelers to Belize continues to be Americans, which has increased by 11.8%; the second largest is the European market, having a 23.2% increase; the third largest is the Canadian market, with a 6.4% increase.
