SAME DAY VISITORS
There were steady declines in same day visitor arrivals to the country throughout 2005, registering an overall 30.9% decline with 8,928 visitors in 2005 when compared with 12,936 visitors in 2004. As noted earlier, it is still not clear what is contributing to the steady decline in same-day arrivals, however, it partly reflects the travel patterns and climate in the neighboring islands where most of the same-day visitors originate.
Europeans continue to account for the largest stay over arrivals with 4,113 visitors, the Caribbean followed with 3,612 arrivals. There were 886 same day visitors from the USA and 200 from Canada. South America and others accounted for 47 and 70 visitors respectively.
CRUISE VISITORS
In 2005, 69,391 Cruise Visitors visited the shores of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, a decrease of 10.5% from the 2004 figure of 77,585. There were declines in arrivals throughout the period January to October with the months of November and December registering major increase of 42.3% and 147.4% respectively.
In 2005, Port Kingstown registered 51 calls with a total of 3,212 cruise passengers, followed by Union Island with 29,576 from 74 calls and Bequia 8,797 passengers from 56 calls. There were 181 calls to the destination in 2005, when compared with 225 calls in 2004.
YACHT VISITORS
There was a slight increase in yacht arrivals in 2005, with 84,610 recorded yacht visitors 383 visitors over the 2004 figure of 84,227. There were increases in yacht arrivals during the first quarter of the year with a 3.5% increase in January, 3.1% in February and 21.9% in March. The second quarter saw steady decreases of 21.7%, 24.3% and 19.8% in the months of April, May and June. In July there was turn around with a 60.9% increase and in August an increase of 0.1%. There was a 10% decrease in cruise arrivals in September and increases of 29.6%, 37.1% and 41.5% in the last three months of the year.
Like the previous year, Bequia was the main Port of Entry for yachts with 36,913 arrivals, Union Island followed with 25,232 visitors and Kingstown with 19,734. There were 960 visitors to Mustique, 945 to Wallilabou and 826, to Canouan.
ACCOMMODATION
In 2005 the number of rooms in St. Vincent and the Grenadines totaled 2,198, an increase over the 2004 figure of 1,879; with 822 Hotel and Resort rooms, 550 Apartment rooms, Cottages and Villas accounting for 479 rooms, Guest Houses 221 rooms and Private Accommodation 64 rooms.
Of the total number of rooms, St. Vincent accounts for 992, Mustique 309, Canouan 179, Bequia 436, Union Island 157, Palm Island 34, Petit St. Vincent Resort 22 and Mayreau 14. There are 313 registered properties throughout St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
