| Millionth tourist arrives in 2011 | | Print | |
| Friday, 06 January 2012 11:50 | |||
 New York resident John Ducar will take a special place in the history of the Turks and Caicos Islands as passenger 1,000,001 to arrive in the country in 2011. This marks a historic time for the country as the first time more than 1 million tourists visited the country in a single year. Ducar and his wife, Alexandra, arrived Saturday, Dec. 31, at the Providenciales International Airport on a Jet Blue flight from New York. The two were immediately showered with gifts and attention from media and stakeholders in the tourism industry. “We are very pleased,” said Director or Tourism Ralph Higgs. “It is an accomplishment by any stretch.” “It was a pleasant surprise, and we are very happy,” Ducar told the media during the fanfare. “To get this gratitude for being the millionth visitor is pretty cool.” “To have that amount of visitors in just one year is phenomenal,” added Turks and Caicos Hotel and Tourism Association Executive Stacy Cox, who presented the special visitor with several exciting gifts. This was Ducar’s first visit to the country, but said he will be back for sure. He received round-trip tickets for two, compliments of JetBlue, a four-night stay at the Regent Palms on Grace Bay, a bicentennial collector’s coin from Scotiabank and a fruit basket courtesy of the Tourist Board. Airports Authority CEO John T. Smith attributed the increased number of tourists to the addition of flights in 2011 from Continental Airlines and JetBlue, and he looks forward to more airlines coming on board in the future. “Without the demand, these flights would not be possible, so we thank every visitor to the Turks and Caicos Islands,” Smith said. The millionth visitor — Maggie Hanson of Bellingham, Washington — was greeted with similar fanfare, arriving via the largest contributor to the record number of tourists to the TCI, the Grand Turk Cruise Center. The number of tourists is calculated by the statistical department which collects data from the cruise center and airports. Higgs said they verified the information with the Airports Authority and the TCHTA. “If we can do this in a down market, I can’t imagine what we can do as the economy improves,” said Cox, who said the goal is to surpass these record numbers in 2012.
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