Airfare Antigua - V.C. Bird Airfare Barbuda

Airfare Antigua and Barbuda

Military

The Royal Antigua and Barbuda Defence Force is the country's military. It has 185 members.

Parishes and dependencies

The island of Barbuda (1,241) and the uninhabited island of Redonda each enjoy dependency status.

Geography

The country consists of a number of islands, of which Antigua is the largest and most populous. Barbuda, just north of Antigua, is the other main island. The islands have a warm, tropical climate, with nearly constant temperatures throughout the year. Redonda, another nearby island, which was annexed in the 1860s when its phosphate resources were discovered, is also the territory of Antigua and Barbuda although it has been unoccupied since 1930.

The islands are mostly low-lying with the highest point being Boggy Peak, at 402 metres (1,319 ft). The small country's main town is the capital, Saint John's, on Antigua; Barbuda's largest town is Codrington. Antigua & Barbuda combined have 365 beaches.

The Antiguan Racer is the rarest snake in the world with approximately only two hundred remaining in the wild. It is found on Bird Island, an island off the coast of Antigua.

Economy

Tourism dominates the economy, accounting for more than half of the GDP. Weak tourist arrival numbers since early 2000 have slowed the economy, however, and pressed the government into a tight fiscal corner. The dual-island nation's agricultural production is focused on the domestic market and constrained by a limited water supply and a labour shortage stemming from the lure of higher wages in tourism and construction work.

Manufacturing comprises enclave-type assembly for export with major products being bedding, handicrafts, and electronic components. Prospects for economic growth in the medium term will continue to depend on income growth in the industrialised world, especially in the United States, which accounts for about one-third of all tourist arrivals.

Demographics

The ethnic distribution consist of 91% Black, 4.4% Mixed Race, 1.7% White, 2.7% Other. There is a minority of people of Portuguese and mixed Portuguese-African ancestry, due to Portuguese indentured servants brought to the West Indies after the abolition of slavery. The majority of the white population is ethnically Irish and British, while there are also a few Christian Levantine Arabs (primarily of Syrian, Lebanese and Palestinian descent). There is a small population of Sephardic Jews.