
Falkland Islands Tourist Board Interim CEO, Steph Middleton gave a short presentation on the growth of visitor numbers in recent years at this week’s public meeting. She said there were 1,461 land-based tourists last year, spending about £2m or £120 per person per night - the best year since 2007-8.

Approximately 63,000 cruise ship passengers arrivals are expected in the Falkland Islands this season which is slightly up on the previous season when just over 56,000 passengers were received from 105 ship visits. Staff at Sulivan Shipping are looking forward to the start of the 2016-2017 tourism season, with the arrival of the first cruise ship passengers on next Saturday’s flight, to board the M/V Sea Spirit.

New Mind | tellUs has been selected by the Falkland Islands Tourist Board to supply a world-class digital platform which will contribute to the development of a well established and thriving tourism destination.

The Falkland Islands Government PR & Media Office is currently running a photo competition to source quality images of the Falkland Islands.

Planning is underway for an Avro RJ100 jet aircraft, operated by Tronos Jet Maintenance and flown by Atlantic Star Airlines, with final destination Chile, to fly to Ascension Island, followed by a call at St Helena Airport on the same day. Both are technical stops, and the crew will overnight on St Helena.

The airline industry agreed on a framework for reducing its carbon footprint at a UN meeting in Montreal, the first commercial sector on its own to tackle climate change. Six years of negotiations culminated in what International Civil Aviation Organization president Azharuddin Abdul Rahman called a historic deal at the ICAO's plenary session to cap carbon-dioxide emissions by 2035 at 2020 levels.

Hurricane Matthew is forcing a growing number of cruise ships to alter course as it barrels northward toward Haiti, Cuba and the Bahamas. Cruise giant Carnival has rerouted half a dozen ships scheduled to visit ports in the region over the next few days, including the Carnival Sensation, Carnival Splendor and Carnival Ecstasy.

Australia will welcome an unprecedented number of cruise ships this summer, with more than 40 vessels sailing in local waters - including eight ships making their maiden visit over the next few months. Among the flotilla will be the largest ship to visit Australia, Royal Caribbean’s 167,000-ton Ovation of the Seas, as well as the youngest and most luxurious ship ever to cruise Oceania waters, the boutique Seabourn Encore, which will arrive two weeks after it is officially named in Singapore.

Ushuaia remains as Antarctic gate king this 2016/2017 cruise season with 245 out of its 305 calls (45 vessels) heading for the extreme south ice covered continent, according to the data published by the Tierra del Fuego Tourism Institute Infuetur. The season took off in early September with the arrival of Chilean flagged Stella Australis, and its 210 passengers heading for Cape Horn

The 2016//17 cruise season for the Magallanes region in the extreme south of Chile will see a drop in the number of calls, from 121 to 86, of which 83 in Punta Arenas and 3 in Puerto Natales, according to the schedule published by Punta Arenas port authority, Austral Port Company, EPA, website.