Turks & Caicos Reported 4 Percent Uptick in Tourist Arrivals

The Turks & Caicos Islands Tourist Board has released detailed tourism arrival numbers for the territory for 2017 which show a four percent decrease in both land and cruise ship arrivals when compared to 2016.

The intense hurricane season experienced in September reflected the lowest overall arrivals of only 4,711 visitors. The statistical information below was provided by the Tourist Board, upon request by the Weekly News.

In 2017, 1,243,843 visitors came to the Turks and Caicos Islands by both land and sea. When compared to 2016’s arrivals of 1,300,575, this is a four percent decrease for 2017.

Overall land based and cruise arrivals for January 2017 was 128,673; this represents an eight percent decrease in arrivals compared to 2016’s figure of 140,371.

February 2017’s figures of 126,594 was a nine percent increase over the same month for the previous year, which was 115,847.

March’s overall 2017 arrivals was 148,400; compared to 2016’s 145,517, a two percent increase. April saw a 16 percent increase in arrivals with 121,875 visitors in 2017, and 105,333 in 2016.

In May 19 percent more visitors arrived to these shores totaling 104,942, compared to 2016’s numbers of 87,872.

June 2017 saw TCI receiving 123,511 land and cruise visitors, while 2016 recorded 106,723, a 16 percent increase.

July 2017 saw 122,660 visitors, an 11 percent increase over the previous year’s figures of 110,667. August saw a 14 percent increase with 122,956 visitors, over the 2016 total of 107,595.

In September, overall visitor arrivals to the TCI was 4,711, a 94 percent drop compared to the previous year’s total of 78,815.

October showed a spike with 22,579 visitors arriving in the TCI, even as it reflected a 67 percent decrease from 2016’s total of 68,714.

November showed a 12 percent decrease in 2017 arrivals compared to 2016’s with 81,160 and 92,736, respectively.

In December, 135,782 visitors came by land and cruise to the TCI, a mere three percent drop compared to 2016’s figures of 140,385.

January 44,888; February 43,597; March 48,354, April 50,206, May 33,946, June 34,606, July 37,497, August 36,244, September 2,346, October 22,579, November 23,221, December 38,950.

These numbers bring the total land-based arrivals to 416,434, while 2016 arrivals were 453,612.

Compared to land-based arrivals for the previous year, 2017 saw an eight percent decrease, with September taking the hardest hit with an 88 percent drop in arrivals to the Islands.

November came in second for lowest compared with the previous year at a 22 percent decrease; July saw a 14 percent less visitors, June and December figures both reflected nine percent decreases in arrivals, October saw an eight percent decline, and March a five percent decrease compared to 2016 figures.   

Positive estimates for 2017 compared to 2016 were achieved in February and August which showed a four percent spike in land arrivals, while January, April and May all show a one percent increase over 2016 arrivals.

January 83,785, February 82,997, March 100,046, April 71,669, May 70,996, June 88,905, July 85,163, August 86,712, September 2,365, October 0, November 57,939, December 96,832. This brings the total of cruise arrivals for 2017 to 827,409.

Last year, the Ministry of Tourism echoed a warning voiced by the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), stating that travel to Caribbean destinations are expected to slow down in 2017, following a mixed 2016 in which hotel performance was generally down but arrivals from most key markets were up.  

The ministry also reported at the time that for the first time in recent years, the TCI recorded a decline in its largest source market and had named several factors that may have been responsible for the decline.

These included ‘The Trump Effect’ wherein it stated Americans are choosing to ‘Make America Great Again’ by opting for staycations over international travel.

Travelzoo’s Spring 2017 Travel Trends Survey (Feb. 2017), reported that nearly 60 percent of Americans will travel domestically for their primary vacation in 2017.

It was also reported by the ministry that American travelers are also showing an interest in long weekends to Europe, with new low-cost carriers like WOW Air and Norwegian offering the most competitive fares to Europe in recent history - $500 or less.

Source: Turks & Caicos Weekly News