Above: the Cayman Islands

By the Caribbean Journal

The Cayman Islands just set a record for tourist arrivals.

The territory received 45,467 stayover visitors in March, the largest number of stayover visitors arriving to the island one month in its history.

Overall, the Cayman Islands welcomed 115,640 stayover visitors in the first quarter of 2015, according to data released by the Department of Tourism this week.

That represented a 5.7 percent increase in arrivals compared to the same period in 2014, making it one of the best quarters for tourism arrivals in the territory’s history.

“This speaks to the efforts made by the Ministry and Department of Tourism in collaboration with our tourism partners to distinguish ourselves in ways that are welcoming and satisfying to our visitors,” said Tourism Minister Moses Kirkconnell.

The March total represented a 2.88 percent increase over the same month in 2014.

“It is another great, positive beginning to the year, and we couldn’t have asked for a better start to 2015,” said Director of Tourism Rosa Harris. “We are optimistic of the tourism performance which is measured by the growth in air arrivals. The Northeast region of the US continues to be our largest key market for visitation and our efforts to see wins from this market will continue throughout the year. We have excellent airline partners that service the Northeast and we feel there is more room for growth from this area.”