Bermuda’s tourism industry continues to flourish with Bermuda Tourism Authority announcing today that the island has recorded the 16th consecutive month of growth.

The BTA’s latest figures show that April’s year-over-year growth in leisure air arrivals climbed by 17 per cent.

And year-to-date, leisure air arrivals are up 18 per cent through April 30, 2017 — a near 32 per cent increase for the four-month period when compared to two years ago.

“The growth in leisure air arrivals for April came from all three countries that serve Bermuda with direct air service — the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom,” said a BTA statement. “The largest year-over-year percentage increase came from Canadian visitors with a 23 per cent increase. The United States and United Kingdom both saw double digit percentage increases in April, as well.

“Visitors from the UK remain slightly off the year-to-date pace — down 7 per cent when compared to a year ago.

“The hotel sector continued to show solid improvement, growing occupancy levels by nine percentage points from 57 per cent last April to 66 per cent this April. At the same time, due largely to stronger vacationer demand, hoteliers were able to charge more for their rooms on average than they did a year ago.”

Senator Michael Fahy, Minister of Tourism, welcomed the news and pointed out: “A strong performance in the hotel sector is very good news for hoteliers, hotel workers and good for attracting future hotel investment to the island.

“This is making a positive impact on the lives of thousands of people working on the front lines of hospitality today.

“At the same time, consistent growth in visitor arrivals and spending helps us bring capital into Bermuda to further grow our tourism product. As more hotel rooms come online, more jobs are created across the island. We’re on pace to add 1,500 hotel rooms over the next ten years.”

The full arrivals report for April 2017 is available on the Bermuda Tourism Authority website.