ROSEAU, Dominica — The months of October to December 2018 produced arrivals of 22,178 from all Dominica’s source markets, representing 35.3 percent of total stay-over arrivals for the year which stood at 62,828. This is an increase of 95 percent over the same period in 2017. Increases were registered at 91 percent, 113 percent and 78 percent respectively during the last three months of the year compared to 2017.
The quarter also represents a marginal increase of 0.9 percent over the same period in 2016. November 2018 was the first month to show an increase over the same month in 2016, with an increase of 15.6 percent over November 2016. Arrivals amounted to 5,271 which is the highest arrivals for that month over the past 12 years of reported data, representing a record for the destination in that regard. December figures showed that the upswing continued, registering a 6.7 percent increase over December 2016 arrivals.
The year-end figure of 62,828 visitor arrivals represents a 13 percent decline over 2017 figures of 72,228. This performance surpassed the projections given for countries which had suffered a natural disaster of the magnitude of Hurricane Maria during the previous year, as expected declines are normally in the vicinity of 30 percent. In addition, the 2018 numbers represent only a 20 percent decline over 2016 arrivals, which is also of significance.
