Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler says preliminary estimates showed that activity in the productive sectors has expanded by 2.1 per cent for the first three months of this year.
This, he said, was driven by a 5.1 per cent expansion in tourism output as long-stay tourist and cruise arrivals increased by 2.3 per cent and 16.5 per cent respectively.
His comments were part of his Budget presentation this evening in Parliament.
“The primary factors in the growth of long-stay arrivals were increased performances in the Canadian market by 8.0 per cent, the CARICOM market by 8.5 per cent and the European market which grew by 18.0 per cent on account of a fortnightly charter service out of Sweden,” he said.
However, he noted that the United States and the United Kingdom market fell by 4.3 per cent and 5.6 per cent respectively.
“In the case of the UK market, cruise and stay-over packages that were previously offered by two cruise ships were discontinued, while the USA market was adversely affected by the reduction of seating capacity out of Dallas and the discontinuation of the Delta Airlines flight from Atlanta.”
Live Blogging on the Budget on www.nationnews.com/live
