Turks & Caicos Tourism Grows ANOTHER 25% During The First Half of 2010

The Turks & Caicos Islands - Beautiful by Nature

Against the face of a global recession and in spite of tourist decline amongst many of the Turks & Caicos Islands regional peers – tourist arrivals in the Turks and Caicos Islands have increased by a staggering 25% for the first half of 2010 compared with the same period last year (which itself saw enviable growth).

Ralph Higgs, Acting Director of Tourism for the Turks and Caicos Tourist Board, said, “We are thrilled to see our arrival numbers for 2010 up 25% and we are optimistic that these numbers will continue to climb through the remainder of the year”

Arrivals figures for the first half of 2010 demonstrate that the Turks and Caicos Islands welcomed 489,069 long stay and cruise visitors.  This figure extrapolates to 167,057 long stay visitors for the first six months of this year which compares to 131,352 for the same period in 2009.

Governors Beach, Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos

From January to June this year; 322,012 visitors arrived in Grand Turk by cruise ship which compared to 258,495 for the corresponding period of last year and even then – Grand Turk had enjoyed a massive growth on arrivals compared to 2008.  Grand Turk – and in turn the Turks & Caicos Islands – are continuing to dominate luxury cruise traffic in the region.  In the first half of 2010 the TCI welcomed a total of 125 cruise ships which was also a 25% increase over the same period in 2009 when Grand Turk welcomed 113 top end cruise ships during the same period.

The USA, Canada, Europe / Scandinavia and the Caribbean remain the TCI’s major source of tourism although the islands continue to welcome a growing number of travellers  from the Middle East, South Africa and beyond. The key markets of USA, Canada, Europe / Scandinavia grew by 21%, 97%, 5% and 27% respectively.  97% growth from Europe / Scandinavia is clearly enormous growth!

On this, Higgs said, “We are impressed by these increases and we feel this speaks to the strength of our tourism industries; airlift, accommodation, attractions both natural and man-made; and the hospitable nature of our people working directly and indirectly in our tourism industry.”

TCI - Globally Famed for its High Net Worth Family Tourism Product

Additionally, officials in the Turks and Caicos Ministry of Finance confirm that increase tourist arrivals correspond with increased revenue collected from the accommodation tax for the same period in 2009. The Turks and Caicos Hotel and Tourism Association (TCHTA) also confirms that unaudited occupancy figures amongst its members showed average increases of 11% for the first half of 2010.

Moving forward the Tourist Board have stated that they will continue to increase their presence within the marketplace by embarking on a series of travel, trade, sponsor and promotional events in the US, Canada and Europe whilst continuing to work with wholesalers and hotel partners to sell the destination to a discerning global audience.

The Regent Grand

The future looks increasingly bright for the TCI with several new resorts due to open soon, new airlift into the islands from major carriers (including JetBlue and hopefully soon Virgin), new cruise ships adding Grand Turk to their rosters, a buoyant real estate market and a high-end family tourism product that’s renowned all over the world for five star luxury service as standard.  Crucially, everybody knows that there is simply nowhere safer and more secure in the Caribbean which is an increasingly important checkbox for the discerning visitor who demands personal security.

And don’t forget – unlike most developers; Conch offer ALL its clients free travel and luxury accommodation to the Turks & Caicos so you can inspect your purchase and enjoy our hospitality.

~ by Conch Developments on September 13, 2010.