Long stay visitors to Barbados spent 20 percent more money during the first quarter of 2016 than during the same period in 2015. - These are the findings of the quarterly survey conducted by the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) on behalf of the destination. According to the report, total visitor expenditure on island grew from US $280 million to US $337 million in the first quarter. This was achieved through a 14.9 percent increase in visitor average length of stay and a total growth of 7.4 percent in visitor arrivals. The latter compensated for a decline in the average daily spend of 5.6 percent to generate the recorded growth in expenditure of US $57 million in the first quarter of 2016.
Overall Barbados was able to achieve growth in the average length of stay for all markets during the period with the exception of the Caribbean which remained unchanged. This resulted in an overall increase of 8.9 percent in the visitor expenditure per person per trip. Additionally, all markets, with the exception of the Caribbean, recorded increases in visitor expenditure per person per trip, with the USA leading the way with an significant 42.4 percent increase in spending by American guests. Conversely, the Caribbean was the only market that did not record an increase in the visitor expenditure per person per trip. Instead, there was a 28 percent reduction in average daily spend from that market.
A breakdown of the spending by market during the first quarter revealed that the visitors from the USA market spent the most on average per day; US $240.78 represented an increase of 22 percent or US $43.75.
