The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

United Airlines is already looking to increase the frequency of a new non-stop flight from Denver that is expected to bring an extra 20,000 visitors to The Bahamas annually, a senior tourism official says.

Dr Kenneth Romer, the Ministry of Tourism's executive director of product quality and support, said "the demand was so great in Denver that they upgraded" the first Denver-to-Nassau flight, which landed at Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) on Saturday morning.

The flight had around 180 passengers, and Dr Romer added: "What United Airlines is saying is that they are trending towards a lot of positive advanced bookings. Even though we were able to upgrade this morning they were very optimistic about the performance of this particular route over the next several months, because they are seeing advanced bookings and a keen interest.

"The vice-president of United Airlines with responsibility for the expansion of routes has already said to us that they expect to revisit that once per week frequency very soon. I think right now, based on their predictions, this market is going to perform very well so they want to come around the table very soon to add additional days coming from Denver."

Asked how many extra visitors will be brought to The Bahamas by United Airlines' new service, Dr Romer said: "This particular flight is probably only estimated to do about 10,000 to 20,000 passengers a year, as this is a seasonal flight and Denver has promoted this flight as during summer and winter.

"This particular flight meets a demand for persons who want to move into a warmer destination around the winter time. I am very optimistic based on how this flight has been performing initially that Denver is going to be a hot market for us, and I expect to see those numbers double by the time we hit summer and certainly towards the end of the year.

"We are engaging in a conversation next week with another airline that's not only looking at increased frequency from the east coast, but there is a hot demand for the mid-west and the western United States. So I think now we are going to be eyeing the mid-west market," Dr Romer added.

"We have an opportunity again to look at our source market, and certainly how we have persons connecting through the key hubs. The eastern coast is a hot product. Again, we know that a significant portion of our traveller - some 80 plus percent - are coming from the US, and we are really going to look at that market and find better ways to deepen that and keep pressing."

The United Airlines service potentially gives The Bahamas a hub through which it can access, and open up, the US west coast markets that it has long desired to better penetrate. Flights from cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle all go into Denver, which could enable this nation to offer itself as an alternative warm weather destination to the likes of Hawaii and Mexico.

Tyrone Sawyer, the Ministry of Tourism's senior director of airlift development, told Tribune Business: It's a one flight per week on Saturday only, but what that means is that you have now got a non-stop flight from Denver. The Bahamas now has access to places like San Diego, Los Angeles, Sacramento with those places connecting through Denver."

He added: "What it is is a non-stop flight from the western hub of United Airlines, and that hub is Denver. What that means is with the nature of our airlift, over 50 percent of our seats coming in are what we call 'hub and spoke' driven...The majority of people that come on those flights connect from somewhere else.

The Ministry of Tourism is also seeking to increase its marketing spend in the western part of the US, as Dr Romer said it had seen increased interest in the destination from states such as Utah.