Above: St Lucia

By the Caribbean Journal staff

St Lucia is seeing an increase in traffic from its largest tourist source market, the government said this week.

So far this year, arrivals from the United States are up 12 percent through the first 11 months of 2013, with a total of 116,982.

In November, the beginning of tourist season, rose 19 percent, with a total of 9,732 arrivals, up from 8,171 in 2012.

Arrivals from another large source market, the rest of the Caribbean region, are up 7 percent compared to 12.

“Saint Lucia has been able to realize steady increases in arrivals overall and most notably an expansion in its main source market – the United States – even as the US economy still grapples with slow economic recovery,” Tourism Minister Lorne Theophilus said.

Stayover arrivals are up 4 percent compared to 2012, with a total of 288,023 so far this year.