Tourism Stats for the First Half of 2019

Despite the murder of a U.S. national recently in San Pedro that gave Belize a black eye in the international news, the Belize Tourism Board is touting a growth in visitor arrivals in the country in the first six months of the year. The B.T.B. states that both overnight and cruise ship arrivals increased.  At the end of the second quarter of 2019, there was a cumulative increase of six percent in overnight tourist arrivals over 2018.  The B.T.B. states that June experienced a slight dip of approximately four hundred visitors in comparison to last year.  And as of the end of June, a two hundred and eighty-four thousand five hundred seventy-six visitors experienced the magic of Belize and its attractions. But in respect of cruise ship arrivals, there was a ten percent decrease in the first six months of the year in which eighteen thousand less visitors arrived on port compared to the same period last year. All in all, seven hundred thousand visitors came to Belize in the past six months. The B.T.B. has also completed the 2018 Travel and Tourism Statistics Digest, an annual compilation of statistics on the industry which can be viewed on its website.