The Tribune

BAHAMIAN officials recently attended the annual Routes Americas conference in a bid to lure increased airlift to the Bahamas.

The event, held in Quito, Ecuador, attracted 650 delegates, 70 airlines and 150 airport representatives.

It pairs tourism officials and potential partners in face-to-face meetings, in the hope of generating new relationships and strengthening existing ones.

Tyrone Sawyer, senior director of airlift development at the Ministry of Tourism and Aviation, who led the Bahamas delegation, said: "You never know what to expect, but we come prepared. "We know that Routes is always efficient because it provides a forum for us to meet and review plans with the existing airline partners, and with airlines that do not presently serve the islands of the Bahamas. We feel good about what we accomplished."

Bahamasair's managing director, Tracy Cooper, also attended Routes Americas 2018 with the hope of elevating the national flag carrier's role in tourism development.

Mr Sawyer said there were a number of significant meetings that resulted in the possibility of new airlift. He added that the preparation of route analysis, negotiations and designs of robust destination branding campaigns are already underway.

The Bahamian team also met with several long-time airline partners, and explained that plans are being laid to revive Grand Bahama as a prime tourism destination. "It was also very exciting to hear airline partners report about the how surge in consumer demand to Abaco, Eleuthera, Exuma, Nassau and Paradise Island and San Salvador is causing their load factor and yield performance to track in a positive direction," Mr Sawyer said of airline feedback.