Antigua and Barbuda have reached a big milestone of their tourism business, welcoming the five hundred,000th cruise passenger of the 12 months at St. John’s Harbour on Might 9, 2024.
The historic occasion occurred in beneath 5 months, showcasing a fast improve in cruise visitors in comparison with earlier years.
Antigua Cruise Port’s Operation Supervisor Rawle Reynolds, highlighted the distinctive development to the native media, saying, “Within the years of being a cruise tourism vacation spot, that is the primary time at such a quick tempo within the 4th month of the 12 months that we’ve been in a position to attain 500,000 passengers at the moment of the 12 months.”
Antigua Cruise Port in St. John’s Harbour already obtained 496,000 passengers on 255 ship calls as of Might 5 when Movie star Cruises’ Movie star Past and Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Sky arrived on Might 9. The 2 ships introduced over 4,000 passengers, pushing the full variety of guests previous the half-million mark.
Cynthia Jacobs Browne, officer-in-charge at Antigua Cruise Port, expressed her enthusiasm over the achievements, stating, “These numbers are extraordinarily thrilling for us. Each passenger represents a possibility for a taxi driver, restauranteur, store proprietor, or tour operator to advertise the most effective of Antigua and to make a greater dwelling.”
She went on to say, “We’re on observe for a record-breaking 12 months, and we couldn’t be prouder of our group and our success at this level. Bookings for the summer season season are additionally up, and we’re heading in the right direction to outperform final 12 months’s numbers. We stay up for sharing extra record-breaking information quickly.”
Antigua Cruise adopted its half-million passenger depend with the Might 10 arrival of NCL’s 2,402-passenger Norwegian Jade. Princess Cruises’ 3,080-passenger Emerald Princess can even arrive this month.
Antigua Units Eyes on Historic Cruise Tourism Numbers
Antigua’s surge in cruise exercise has introduced in additional than 105,000 extra passengers and a rise of 42 calls in comparison with Might 2023. It’s value noting that Antigua welcomed simply over 500,000 cruise passengers for the whole lot of final 12 months.
The port anticipates a document variety of guests by the tip of 2024, with projections to welcome over 800,000 passengers by way of 309 common port calls and 27 turnaround calls.
Antigua’s unprecedented development consists of homeporting P&O Cruises’ 5,200-passenger P&O Arvia, Scenic Group’s 100-passenger Emerald Sakara, Star Clippers’ 277-guest Royal Clipper two ships from the SeaDream Yacht Membership fleet.
Additionally attributing to the expansion is the opening of the port’s new $30-million Oasis-class berth, which allowed P&O Arvia to homeport on the island. The biggest ship to name Antigua residence, the Excel-class ship additionally brings 1,800 crew members to the nation.
Learn Additionally: Caribbean Nation Offers Updates on Cruise Initiatives
Earlier this 12 months, the Antiguan authorities additionally introduced it will start growing Rat Island, north of St. John’s cruise terminal, as an extension of the Antigua Cruise Port. Rat Island will welcome small cruise ships and yachts, leaving the port’s Heritage Quay for bigger cruise vessels.
The dual-island nation can be contemplating including an leisure and eating hub on Rat Island, just like its choices at Heritage Quay.
Though the event of a $100-million seashore membership, in partnership with Royal Caribbean Worldwide, was introduced earlier than the pandemic, it’s unsure if the non-public vacation spot resort shall be again on observe within the close to future. The seashore membership could be constructed at Fort James and be just like the brand new seashore membership Royal Caribbean is constructing in Nassau, Bahamas, including to Antigua and Barbuda’s thriving cruise business.
