That North American country opened very late in the season, around November last year, so the market lagged a bit behind, tourism CEO Colin James told reporters.

‘The good thing now is that Canada is back and it’s on fire.

We have a flight every day of the week, whether it’s Sunwing, WestJet or Air Canada,’ he explained.

‘Now you can also fly direct from Montreal with Air Canada, so the numbers are skyrocketing right now, the executive added.

That airline announced in January 2022 a suspension of its travel to this territory, among others, for a few months, which it later extended until October.

‘One major hotelier told me that in January 60 percent of their guests were Canadians, so we’re happy to see that market recovering,’ James stressed.

‘Although the total numbers recorded in 2022 fell short of expectations, we welcomed just over 265,000 visitors, a couple of thousands less than the second-best annual period, with 301,000, he noted.

The two main outbound markets to Antigua and Barbuda are the United Kingdom and the United States, which prospered in the previous year, according to official figures.

ef/abo/ro/znc