KINGSTOWN — Visitor arrivals to St. Vincent and the Grenadines for the first five months of 2019 have increased by 7.1%.

Provisional figures for the period January to May show that 232, 916 visitors came to St. Vincent and the Grenadines for the year so far, compared with 217,453 in 2018. This is reflective of an additional 15,463 visitors to the destination.

Arrivals by air also increased by 7.1% with a total of 36,757 in 2019 compared with 34,335 in 2018 or a difference of 2,486 stay-over visitors.

The Canadian market registered the greatest increase for stay-over arrivals with an increase of 16.9% while the U.S. registered an increase of 11.4%, followed by the UK with an increase of 10%.

A total of 158,233 cruise visitors arrived in the destination for the same period registering an increase of 7.0% over the 147,878 cruise visitors for the comparative period in 2018.

Since the opening of the Argyle International Airport in February 2017, three international carriers have been operating weekly nonstop flights to the islands.

Earlier this month American Airlines announced a second weekly flight to the AIA from December 2019 when the airline will operate the current Saturday service along with a Wednesday service.

The American Airline nonstop service to Argyle International Airport will complement Caribbean Airlines’ weekly Wednesday non-stop service from JFK, and Air Canada Rouge’s weekly Thursday nonstop service from Pearson.

Air Canada Rouge will again operate a second weekly Sunday nonstop service for the winter season starting Dec. 15.