galapagos

CNH Tours - Cultural and Natural Heritage Tours Galapagos
Wednesday March 16, 2011
Over 173,000 visitors in 2010
The Galapagos National Park recently reported that 173,296
people entered the Galapagos Islands as tourists in 2010 - a 6%
increase over 2009.
Of these 36% (61,574) were Ecuadorians, 27% (46,093) from the
USA, 5% (9045) from the United Kingdome and the others were from
140 other countries. Other major origins include
Canada, Germany and Italy.
Of these visitors, 46% (79,716) enjoyed a cruise and 44% (76,250)
used hotel services, and 7% stayed with family and friends.
A small number of tourists did not specify their type
of accommodations.
All this information is collected through the Transit Control Card
(TCC) that a visitor must fill out when departing the continent for
Galapagos (at a cost of $10).
CNH Tours has calculated that if all cruise ships operated at 100% capacity, running 7 night cruises and not spending any time in dry dock (ships usually spend a few weeks each year undergoing maintenance), the maximum number of visitors they could accommodate would be about 90,000 in one year. But because most ships run 3 and 4 night cruises, the actual total turnaround is likely closer to 125,000. The 2010 numbers likely indicate an occupation rate for cruise ships of about 70%.