By Robert A Emmanuel
Tourism Minister, Charles ‘Max’ Fernandez said he was elated after news broke that visitor figures for both air and cruise arrivals this month were the highest across a five-year period.
Speaking to Observer yesterday, Minister Fernandez exclaimed that “it is our strongest April to date.”
“I think that…Antigua is becoming the place to visit and the feedback we are getting from the hoteliers, from the restaurateurs and from our airline partners, all of them are saying that they are happy with what we are doing in Antigua, and kudos to our Tourism Authority,” he expressed.
He added that the Global Ports Holding has played a critical role in boosting the tourism numbers in our cruise industry.
According to official numbers, 56,813 persons vessels arrived via cruise in 2023, which surpassed the 53,674 arrivals in April 2018, while air arrivals for the year were 28,197 persons, surpassing the April 2019 figure of 27,302.
Meanwhile, US airline Frontier Airline has announced that it will soon begin direct flights between Orlando Florida and Antigua and Barbuda, with the country’s tourism officials expressing glee at the news.
“Frontier is the perfect partner to broaden our airlift by offering competitive fares complemented by a strong network. I am excited [at the prospect of] a significant increase in visitors from the US market,” Minister Fernandez said in a press release.
Minister Fernandez added in an interview with Observer yesterday that the return of Frontier showed the confidence in the country’s “rebounding numbers” following the pandemic.
“It says two things—first, they had paused their flights and part of the rationale was that they were having a challenge, as most of the airlines would tell you, with pilots and crew.
“The fact that they are coming back now shows that it wasn’t any failure on our part,” he explained.
In the press release, CEO of the Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority, Colin James, explained that “the return of Frontier was the culmination of the Tourism Authority’s aggressive efforts to return our airlift to pre-pandemic levels.”
He added, “Frontier has been an excellent partner and is known for their very competitive fares, and this will no doubt improve the attractiveness of Antigua and Barbuda to those passengers who tend to save on the airfare, while upgrading on their hotel product.”
The low-cost US airline will begin weekly nonstop flights between Orlando International Airport and V C Bird International Airport on November 4.