The tourism sector is continuing to bloom after being almost dormant for over a year.
In fact, statistics from the Ministry of Tourism show that the country has had more air arrivals this July than the same period in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020.
In July of 2017, there were 22,109 arrivals into the airport. In July 2018, there were 23,009, and 2019 recorded 23,031.
Those numbers took a huge dip in 2020 when there were only 4,002 arrivals by air.
However, this year, the twin island has received 23,405 tourist arrivals via air.
Tourism Minister Charles Fernandez shared the statistics with Observer, which also showed that since January 2021, the numbers have been climbing steadily.
He attributed this milestone to the work of two ministries in particular.
“First of all, I want to congratulate the great team at the Ministry of Tourism and of course the Tourism Authority who has been working very hard to bring back our tourism arrivals to what it was pre-pandemic levels. I think the pent-up demand certainly has fuelled the opportunity for the growth.
“I also believe that the great work done by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Tourism to work together to control and manage the situation vis-a-vis the pandemic has also helped to promote Antigua as a safe place,” he remarked.
The nation closed its borders in mid-March 2020 and as a result, April saw only five air arrivals while May had 11.
The borders were reopened to commercial international travel on June 4 2020 with the first American Airlinesflight out ofMiami.