Visitor arrivals to St. Vincent and the Grenadines for the first five months of 2019 have increased by 7.1 percent, according to a statement.

The provisional figures for the period January to May show that 232, 916 visitors came to St. Vincent and the Grenadines for the year thus far, compared with 217,453 in 2018. 

The uptick was driven by the cruise industry as a total of 158,233 cruise visitors arrived in the destination for the period registering an increase of 7.0 percent over the 147,878 cruise visitors for the comparative period in 2018.

Arrivals by air also increased by 7.1 percent with a total of 36,757 in 2019 compared with 34,335 in 2018. The Canadian market registered the greatest increase for stay-over arrivals with an increase of 16.9 percent while the U.S. market registered an increase of 11.4 percent, according to a press release. 

Yacht arrivals grew by 7.6 percent during the months of January to May with a total of 37,926 yacht visitors for the five-month period.