We are prioritizing travel arrivals from Europe in order to benefit from the strong market economy and high consumer demand, the Authority’s chief executive officer, Colin C. James, said in a statement.

‘In 2022, 21 percent of arrivals to the country came from Europe, with at least five percent from German-speaking markets, and another 56,000 or 15 percent of our cruise arrivals from German-speaking territory alone,’ he detailed.

James and Cherrie Osborne, director of Tourism UK and Europe, attended ITB Berlin, the first edition of the world’s largest travel trade fair since the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Caribbean is the third most popular long-distance destination in Germany, after the Indian Ocean and the United States, and for Antigua and Barbuda that European nation represents one of the largest outbound markets.

During the meeting in the German capital, the team from these twin islands talked with airlines Condor, Eurowings, KLM and NEOS about future possibilities of flights to the destination for the 2023/2024 winter season.

This small state of just over 93,000 inhabitants received 125,000 international arrivals in 2020 and 300,990 last year, with revenues exceeding US$300 million.

Tourism activity, the main economic engine here, was severely hit by the restrictions associated with Covid-19, including border closures.

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