Talks with airlines to increase European airlift underway

The drive to increase tourism arrivals from the European market has just been stepped up a notch.

Chief Executive Officer of the Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority Colin James along with colleague Cherrie Osborne traveled to Germany for ITB Berlin; the first edition of the exhibition since the Covid-19 pandemic

Osborne is the UK and Europe Director of Tourism.

James said in an interview that “Tourism Authority is prioritizing increasing lift from this region, to benefit from the market’s strong economy and the high consumer demand,” especially since Germany is Europe’s largest travel market and the Caribbean is Germany’s third most popular long-haul destination after the Indian Ocean and USA.

According to reports, 21% of arrivals into Antigua and Barbuda came from Europe in 2022 “with at least 5% from the German-speaking markets with a further 56,000 or 15% of our cruise arrivals from Germany alone.” 

“There is great consumer interest in Germany for Antigua and Barbuda. We have increased our marketing presence in the market and are confident that with the needed airlift we will be in a better position to grow the market substantially”, James said

Meantime Osborne said “Antigua and Barbuda is working assiduously to grow its European market post-pandemic, which will help to complement the business coming out of the UK.  It’s well known that Europeans travel for a minimum of ten to fourteen nights and prop up the summer business”,

What has been described as highly productive meetings with Condor, Eurowings, KLM, and NEOS were held at the meeting “to discuss the future possibilities of flights to the destination for winter 2023/2024 season”.