1. JOHN’S, Antigua – As Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Industry stakeholders prepare for peak season, tourism officials are cautiously optimistic that with arrivals steadily increasing each month since the destination’s re-opening, that the moderate upward trend will continue into the traditionally busy tourism period.

For the year to August 2020, tourism stayover arrival figures show that the destination received 94,810 visitors. Though arrivals dipped drastically in March due to reduced airlift brought on by the global pandemic, as the V.C Bird International Airport re-opened to international flights in June, monthly visitor arrivals have more than doubled from then until the end of August.

For the month of August, the destination received 4761 visitors, with 67 per cent of these visitors traveling from the United States, followed by 21 per cent from the United Kingdom and Europe, seven  per cent from the Caribbean and three per cent from Canada.

Minister of Tourism, Charles Fernandez, noted that “the Ministry of Tourism and the Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority continue to carefully monitor the COVID-19 landscape within our main source markets. We remain committed to working with the Ministry of Health and the entire Antigua and Barbuda Tourism sector to ensure that as the destination opens up further, we keep those protective measures in place that have been designed to safeguard our residents and those who visit our shores.”

“Currently, American Airlines, Delta, JetBlue, British Airways, Caribbean Airlines, interCaribbean Airlines and Winair are operating flights into the destination.  In the next few months, Antigua and Barbuda will welcome, Virgin Atlantic, Air Canada, and Sunwing.

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