Tourism earnings exceed US$2 billion in eight months

Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett is reporting that tourism earnings in the first eight months of the year have exceeded US$2 billion.

Bartlett says this is 8.3 per cent more than the amount earned for the similar period last year.

Figures quoted by the tourism minister indicate that stopover visitor arrivals for the eight-month period reached 2.8 million.

He says cruise visitor arrivals increased 5.1 per cent during the period.

With tourism earnings reaching record levels, Bartlett says the focus now is to increase the portion of the earnings that remains in the local economy.

He says the Tourism Linkages Council has been mandated to enhance value-added offerings in the sector so that the retention rate can be increased from the current $0.30 to $0.50 out of every dollar that is earned.