Broken promises #5: Air arrivals

In a speech in January 2005, Tourism Minister Ewart Brown promised to “increase air arrivals to 400,000 over the next 3 years”.

In 2004, air arrivals stood at 271,600. In 2005, they fell slightly to 269,600. In 2006 they increased to 299,000.

In the first quarter of 2007, there were 45,825 air arrivals. In the second quarter, there were 99,594, and in the third quarter, 97,875. That's a total of 243,294 in the first nine months of the year, up 2.8% on 2006. In the absence of figures for the rest of this year, a crude extrapolation suggests that the final number of air arrivals for 2007 will be just over 300,000.

At a town hall meeting in St. George's in November 2006, I asked the Premier about his pledge to raise air arrivals to 400,000 by the end of 2007: whether he was still committed to that target, and whether he thought it was still achievable. He responded with an emphatic "yes" to both questions. “But I’m prepared to take the hit if it’s 399,995,” he joked.

Unfortunately, it's clear that the total number of air arrivals for this year will fall well short of that.

(UPDATED at 12.50pm on Monday to include figures for the third quarter of 2007 that were published in today's Royal Gazette.)

Other posts in the "Broken Promises" series:

1. Increased bus service
2. Corruption law reform
3. Public access to information
4. Club Med

Suggestions for other broken promises can be emailed to me at the usual address.