Tourism Arrivals on the Rise in Belize

Overnight arrivals for the 3rd quarter (July-September) of 2015 have shown a significant increase of 6.9 percent, when compared to the same period in 2014. September saw an astounding increase of 19.3 percent; the highest increase ever recorded for the month of September, going as far back as 2006. There were 14,242 overnight visitors in September 2015, which is an increase of 2,299 compared to September 2014.

The Airport remains the leading entry point into the country. Air arrivals accounted for 74.7 percent of the total overnight arrivals. September 2015 saw an increase of approximately 20 percent through the international airport. We can conclude that visitors from the United States accounted for the bulk of this increase in airport arrivals for September, as arrivals for Americans increased by 28.55 percent. Overall, Americans continue to be our main market, making up close to 65 percent of arrivals.

Noteworthy is that there has been a major increase in South American arrivals, with a 45.1 percent increase for the first 9 months of 2015. This was followed by the Asian market which had a 25.1 percent increase.
We anticipate continued growth in the South American and Asian markets with new marketing strategies that have been implemented in these areas, such as Trade Shows, Road Shows, service via Copa Airlines and other marketing partnerships.

Cruise arrivals for the first 9 months of 2015 showed a small dip of 0.3 percent when compared to 2014, but a significant increase of 44.42 percent when compared to 2013.