Tourist arrivals to Anguilla in September – traditionally the island’s slowest month – reached the highest levels in the past 32 years.
This week the Anguilla Statistics Department reported that 6,690 people arrived on the island during that period, with 6,325 arriving by sea and another 365 by air.
The total was 53.1% higher than in 2023, which saw 4,371 arrivals during September.
“Historically, September is the month that registers the least number of arrivals compared to the other months,” the department said in its latest tourism statistics summary report.
“This September recorded the highest number of arrivals for any September period to Anguilla for the past 32 years.”
The second highest September total was in 1994 with 6,398 and the third was in 2006 with 6,067.
The latest statistics mean that Anguilla received 157,269 visitors for the first three quarters of 2024.
Stay-over visitors
Tourists who stayed over for at least one night in Anguilla during September 2024 totalled 1,806, an increase of 15.7% from 2023 when the total recorded for that month was 1,561.
This was the fourth busiest September for stay-over visitors since records began in 1993. The first was 2,196 in 2006, the second was 1,889 in 2007 and the third was 1,812 in 2018.
Stay-over visitors represented the smaller share of arrivals to Anguilla during the month at 27%.
The total for the year for the first three quarters was 85,360.
The length of stay decreased slightly from 9.9 days in September 2023 to 9.5 days in September 2024.
Most arrivals – 40.6% – stayed for one to three days, 22.9% for four to seven days, 7.8% for eight to 15 days, 1.7% for 16 to 22, and 27% for 23 or more days.
Of ten source markets, eight registered increases and two declines.
The highest amount of visitors – 29.7% – came from the United States, with 26.1% from the Caribbean and 10.7% from the ‘Dutch West Indies’.
The United Kingdom and German markets both decreased by 4.3% and 33.3%.
Day trip visitors
Day trip visitors to Anguilla in September 2024 totalled 4,884 – an increase of 73.8% over the same period in 2023 which had 2,810 visitors.
This period featured the highest number of day trip visitors in 32 years. The second highest was in 1994 with 4,168.
Day trip visitors accounted for a 73% share of arrivals to Anguilla during the month.
Six source markets contributed to the overall increase, with the majority coming from the United States at 65.8%, ‘Other European’ at 11% and Caribbean at 6.9%.
Recording a decline were the German, UK, Italian and ‘French West Indies’ source markets, with drops of 44.4%, 32.7%, 14.3% and 0.8%.
The Anguilla Statistics Department also released the arrival numbers for August and October 2024 online the same day, with October also breaking records last year.
