9 June 2020
The sixth Statistical Bulletin of 2020, issued today by the Statistics Office, illustrates trends in passenger arrivals and departures to and from St Helena, focusing on air transport since the start of the first scheduled air service in October 2017.
Arrivals by air grew by 12% in 2019 compared to the previous year, with arrivals for a leisure purpose, including tourists and St Helenians visiting family and friends, increasing by 19%. Arrivals in 2020 were also showing strong growth in January and February before the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic on international travel in March and April. The number of tourist arrivals by air in February 2020 was 247, 30% more than February 2019 and the highest number yet recorded in one month.
The Bulletin also illustrates the effect of the recent COVID-19 pandemic – the total number of arrivals in April was just 60, down from 459 in the previous year, and there were no tourist arrivals by air at all. Arrivals by yacht in 2020 are also much lower than the same period in previous years, although some yacht arrivals have had to stay much longer than the usual average of around six days because of the closure of many yacht ports of entry around the world.
The full Statistical Bulletin can be found on the St Helena Government website here.
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SHG
9 June 2020