Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/972111
B M & T ••• March/April 2018 ••• www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com 32 In the course of a press conference held in at the Habitation Apolline in Martinique in, February Karine Mousseau, the Martinique Tourism Commissioner announced that a record 1,041,139 travelers visited the Isle of Flowers in 2017. Over 511,000 of these visitors were cruise passengers enjoying an excursion during one of the 256 cruise ship port calls and stay over visitors numbered a little over 534,000. In her presentation, Mousseau highlighted the percentages in terms of geographic origin of these visitors: France:-66.3% — other Europeancountries: 8.8% — North America: 6.8 % (only 2.4% in 2014) — Other (Guadeloupe, other Caribbean Islands, Guyana): 18.1%. It is to be noted that the average spend per visitor per day is 68 Euros ($84 at today's rate), with American visitors spending 20% more, averaging $110 per day. Mousseau attributed the steady increase of visitors from North America and most notably from the United States to the much improved access, a result of her and her team's combined efforts to attract and convince airlines to provide non-stop service from the United States to Martinique. For the third consecutive year Norwegian Air has provided non-stop service from NY/JFK to Fort-de-France— the number of flights increased to four weekly in 2017 and the added flights from new gateways like Boston-Providence and Fort- Lauderdale. American Airlines has increased its year-round service from Miami to six flights weekly during the season and Air France recently inaugurated for the 2017/2018 season direct service from Atlanta to Fort-de-France. To increase the number of visitors to their island, the Martinique Tourism Authority offices throughout Europe and the Americas—includ- ing the United States, conducted over 250 actions, ranging from events to press trips, travel agent fams to marketing campaigns. Visit Anaheim the official destination organization for Anaheim, recently announced Anaheim welcomed 24.2 million tourists in 2017 (Source: CIC Research, Inc.). This year marks the fifth record setting year in a row for visi- tation to the Southern California destination. Preliminary reports show that more than 1 million extra visitors, equaling a 5.1 per- cent visitor volume increase, visited Anaheim in 2017 compared to the pre- vious year. Anaheim has experienced a 31 percent growth in tourism since 2012. The local Orange County economy positively benefited from the record setting year, seeing a 6.2 percent increase in spending by Anaheim visitors in 2017 compared to the previous year, totaling $8.62 billion dollars. Spending was spread across a number of sec- tors including hotel accommo- dations, which experienced a 1.7 percent increase in visitors. "The numbers clearly prove the direct and positive impact tourism has on Anaheim and Orange County," said Jay Burress, president & CEO, Visit Anaheim. "2017 was a monumental year for our destination, opening a newly expanded space of the Anaheim Convention Center as well the start of several new development projects. Tourism means an increase in jobs, revenue for small businesses and is a key spoke in our local economy's wheel." Development projects have been on the rise in the destination with several highly impactful projects underway to sustain tourism for years to come. Most notably, Disneyland's much-anticipated Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge and updates to Downtown Disney, which will offer Anaheim's 24 million annual visitors additional entertainment and attraction options. Anaheim visitors will also be offered more diverse hotel accommodation options due to two highly- anticipated four diamond hotels breaking ground in 2017. In Sept. 2017, the Anaheim Convention Center's sev- enth expansion, ACC North, was unveiled, adding 200,000 sq. ft. of flexible meeting space and cementing the Anaheim Convention Center as the largest convention center on the West Coast. ACC North allows meeting profes- sionals the flexi- bility to design unique experiences for their attendees from education sessions, workshops, galas, mar- ketplace connections and networking events. Additionally, many of Anaheim's most impactful annual conventions hit record atten- dance or grew in size in 2017, including NAMM, Natural Products Expo West, VidCon, California Dental Association, OC Auto Show and LuLaRoe. T R AV E L DATA ANAHEIM CELEBRATES FIFTH RECORD SETTING YEAR WELCOMING MORE THAN 24 MILLION VISITORS IN 2017 SURPASSING 2016'S RECORD BREAKING YEAR BY MORE THAN 1 MILLION; 5.1 PERCENT VISITOR VOLUME GROWTH LED TO INCREASED SPENDING IN ORANGE COUNTY TRAVEL TO MARTINIQUE SCORES A RECORD YEAR FOR 2017