Tourism officials are in very high spirits as Antigua and Barbuda get ready to celebrate yet another record-breaking year for air and sea arrivals to the twin-island destination, surpassing 2019, which saw the country welcoming 19,971 arrivals.

During a news conference, Tourism Minister Charles Fernandez disclosed that Antigua and Barbuda welcomed 176,665 stop-over visitors between January and June 2024, a 15 percent increase in air arrivals.

He said this is due to the hard work and dedication of tourism stakeholders both here and abroad.

“Stop-over arrivals increased from January to June 2024 from 154,333 to 176,665 this year.

When comparing the same period in 2019, this represents a 10 percent increase,” the minister said.

“This increase in arrivals is a testament to our industry’s resilience. Our growth continues despite threats from hurricanes, the political climate in our most important source market, the United States, and the change of government in our second-largest source market, the United Kingdom,” he added.

The minister said the month of June this year also recorded several successes due to Antigua and Barbuda’s hosting of the T20 World Cricket Cup tournament, which was also sponsored by the Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority.

He noted this is extremely important because of sports tourism, one of the fastest-growing sectors in the travel industry.

“In 2023, the Sports Tourism market size worldwide was $564 billion and is expected to grow to $1.33 trillion between 2024 and 2032. So you can see there is room for growth, and we intend to continue to push our whole aspect of sports tourism,” Fernandez said.

June 2024 also saw the highest-ever month-over-month growth, with an impressive 42 percent increase in stop-over visitors.

The cruise sector also did well during the period January to June 2024 recording a 30 % increase compared to the same period last year.