Above: the Sans-Souci Palace in Haiti

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Tourism arrivals to Haiti rose by 20.2 percent in 2013, according to preliminary figures recently released by the Caribbean Tourism Organization.

The Caribbean country welcomed a total of 419,736 tourism arrivals, buoyed by a 24.8 percent jump in arrivals over the summer and a 10.1 percent improvement during the winter season.

That was the single-largest improvement in air arrivals of any country in the Caribbean with more than 69,000 visitors, according to an analysis by Caribbean Journal. Only Montserrat, which welcomed around 6,200 visitors, saw a greater improvement.

Tourism arrivals showed significant improvement toward the end of 2013, with a 47.9 percent increase in arrivals in October and a 48.5 percent increase in November, although arrivals fell by 1.6 percent in December of last year.

On the cruise side, Haiti received 643,634 cruise visitors, a 5.5 percent improvement over 2012.

The Caribbean Tourism Organization consolidates data supplied by the organization’s member countries.