(The Valley, Anguilla) February 20, 2008: Anguilla's visitor arrivals for September and October 2007 showed significant declines over 2006. For the month of September, which is considered one of the ‘slow’ months  a decrease of 8.6% was observed over the 6,067 arrivals in September 2006. These arrivals then, were the largest number for that month in the past decade and though it declined to 5,547 in 2007 this still represented the second largest September total in the past 10 years. 

October 2007 saw 6,441 visitors arrive in the island, 11.7% fewer than the same month in 2006.  This was the second largest decline over the past decade after the 17.9% decrease observed in October 2001/2000.

For both months the vast majority of visitors came for relaxation while approximately 12% visited the island for business reasons.

Tourists accounted for 34.1% of the total number of visitors to Anguilla during September 2007 and  44.2% of the total number during October 2007. While this represented a 14% decline for September compared to 2006,  October's 2,847 tourists were 13.3% higher than 2006 and the largest number for this month for the past decade.

During September 2007, the majority of the tourists, 35.3%, originated out of the Caribbean, conversely resulting in a decrease of 17.1% over the September 2006 reported figure. The U.S.A was the market from which the second largest number of tourists, 28.0%, originated. This was a 12.6% decline over the corresponding 2006 period. Arrivals from Germany and Italy both showed increases of 125.0% and 33.3% respectively over their corresponding September 2006 figures.

During October  2007, the majority of tourists, 38.4%, originated out of the U.S.A, resulting in an increase of 0.6% over its October 2006 recorded figure. 22.3% of the tourist visits to Anguilla originated from the Caribbean, which was Anguilla’s second largest source market for the month of October 2007. Arrivals from the ‘Italy’ and ‘Germany’ categories showed the largest increases of 145.5% and 516.7% respectively over their corresponding October 2006 figure.

The remaining visitors to the island in both months were classified as excursionists, most of whom (~80%)  entered the island at the Blowing Point port. Of the 10 categories in which the country of residence is grouped, the United States of America continued to be ranked as the main source market from which Anguilla’s excursionists originate with the ‘Other Europe’ category having the second highest ranked source market.

Tourism Data, are available at the Government of Anguilla Statistics Department’s website: http://gov.ai/statistics/tourism.htm