Tourism officials say they will focus on increasing the number of rooms available in the country as the SIDS conference and World Cup Cricket draw nearer.
Tourism Minister Charles Fernandez told Observer that room availability will depend on their ability to secure a cruise ship to accommodate visitors, which they hope will be finalised by the end of February.
“When we went to the hotels to ask for specials and rooms for the SIDS conference, most of the hotels could only give us a small percentage of their room count and that has been a real challenge.
“We hope to have the cruise ship signed off by the end of the month; that should host between 1,400 to 1,800 passengers and our Airbnbs would pick up a lot of the slack,” Fernandez explained.
Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority CEO, Colin James, said he was optimistic about the country’s ability to accommodate all visitors as well as ensuring enough flights for what he predicted would be a bumper summer season.
“The major connectivity hubs are going to be Miami, New York and London where the folks from the Far East will come through London.
“We’re in discussions with one of our airline partners from the UK to have their services extended during that period as well,” James said.
The fourth Small Island Developing States conference (SIDS4) is scheduled to take place in Antigua and Barbuda from May 27 to 30, while several World Cup Cricket matches are set to be played here from the second week in June.