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Contact: Jana Puga
Impressive Increases in Tourism Arrivals Continue
Belize City, October 11, 2016
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For fifteen (15) consecutive months from June 2015 to September 2016, the Tourism Industry has been experiencing record breaking increases in overnight arrivals every month, with impressive double digit increases of as much as 33% growth.
We are now nine (9) months through 2016 and the tourism arrival figures continue to show this upward trend, closing off this third quarter with an incredible 26.9% increase for the month September 2016 over September 2015. Overall, the first nine months of 2016 recorded a total of 293,622 overnight arrivals, a 16.4% increase over the same nine months of 2015, which had 252,329 overnight arrivals.
Cruise arrivals resulted in 54,569 passengers for September 2016, representing a 20.6% increase over September 2015. Overall, Cruise passenger arrivals recorded a moderate 1.3% increase for the first nine months of 2016, despite having 12 fewer cruise vessels arriving in Belize, inclusive of cruise calls cancelled due to Hurricane Earl.
The U.S. continues to be our largest market with 67.4% of the market share, followed by Europe and Canada, respectively.
We look forward to more increases for the remainder of 2016, especially as we welcome WestJet Airlines on October 29
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with direct flights between Toronto and Belize.
About the Belize Tourism Board
The Belize Tourism Board (BTB) is a statutory body within the Belize Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation, and it is governed by a Board of Directors appointed by the Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation. The BTB works in conjunction with members of the private sector - including the Belize Hotel Association, Belize Tourism Industry Association and Belize National Tour Operators Association
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and is dedicated to building tourism in the most economically and environmentally sustainable manner. As a part of its responsibilities, the BTB promotes Belize as a premier tourism destination to both in-country and
international consumers. Among its outreach to the international travel market, the BTB markets the country's unique a
ttractions to travellers, members of the travel trade industry and media outlets in key markets.
The BTB is also dedicated to developing and implementing tourism programs that will help strengthen and grow the Belizean tourism industry; promote good destination stewardship; and instil high quality standards for accommodations and travel experiences. For more information on the BTB and its services, visit
www.belizetourismboard.org
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