By the conclusion of October 2024, St. Vincent and the Grenadines documented 260,000 visitor arrivals, marking the third-highest figure for that timeframe in the past quarter-century, as reported by Minister of Finance Camilo Gonsalves.
Gonsalves noted that stay-over arrivals approached nearly 77,000 from January to October 2024.
Even when excluding the peak months of November and December, this figure exceeded the total number of visitors the island welcomed during 12 of the last 15 years and significantly surpassed the stay-over totals for the same timeframe in the island’s record year of 2019.
“When the November and December numbers are tallied, we are likely to flirt with a record for stay-over visitors in 2024 and easily exceed 95,000 stay-over visitors by year-end. Indeed, data from the Argyle International Airport show that 139,000 passengers arrived at AIA this year—by far the most air arrivals we have enjoyed in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, notwithstanding the hurricane interruption,” Gonsalves stated.
Gonsalves noted that following a vigorous beginning to the year, yacht arrivals in July and August experienced a decline exceeding 65% compared to recent averages, as Beryl wreaked havoc on the yacht havens of the Southern Grenadines.
“Similarly, after recording the best arrivals for the month of June for over 15 years and comfortably surpassing the June arrivals for the record year of 2019, overall visitors for the post-Beryl months of July and August fell by over 5,000, relative to 2019,” the minister stated.
