The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net’

A Cabinet minister yesterday hailed the “phenomenal rate of increase” in stopover visitor arrivals as a sign “tourism is bouncing back” even though the industry remains more than one-third below 2019 numbers

Dionisio D’Aguilar, minister of tourism and aviation, based his assertion on data that showed visitors had purchased some 110,000 health travel visas in May 2021 - a five-fold increase on the 22,000 acquired just four months earlier in January 2021.

Noting that “almost 300,000 tourists” have visited The Bahamas during the first five months of 2021, as COVID-19 restrictions and border controls eased, Mr D’Aguilar said his ministry’s health visa unit is currently processing between 6,000 to 8,000 applications per day.

“We know how many people purchase a health visa on a daily basis and we know where exactly they are coming from,” he added. “In January of this year, 22,000 visitors received a health visa; in February, 30,000 visitors received a health visa; in March, 64,000 visitors received a health visa; in April, 68,000 visitors received a health visa; and in May, 110,000 visitors received a health visa.

“As you can see, visitor arrivals are increasing by leaps and bounds. From 22,000 to 30,000 to 64,000 to 68,000 to 110,000 and, so far in 2021, almost 300,000 visitors have returned to our shores. Three hundred thousand for the first five months and the rate of increase in their return is phenomenal.”

Mr D’Aguilar’s figures, though, have to be set in context and benchmarked against pre-COVID numbers to see exactly how far The Bahamas’ tourism rebound has progressed. An analysis of 2019 stopover data, measuring the last full year prior to the pandemic, reveals that this nation received more than 300,000 stopover visitors in the first two months of that year (January and February) alone.

For the same five month period in 2019, The Bahamas received a total 882,499 stopover visitors, meaning that 2021’s performance is two-thirds - some 66.7 percent - below that year’s pre-COVID record numbers.

However, the data suggests that the Bahamian tourism industry has steadily been closing the gap during the year’s first five months as COVID vaccinations roll-out both here and in key visitor source markets, and persons become increasingly confident to travel.

May’s 110,000 health travel visa purchases are down by 37 percent compared to the 174,349 stopover visitors that came to The Bahamas in the same month during 2019, which represents a narrowing of the 84.2 percent divide with January 2019 comparisons.

Meanwhile, confirming that the Family Islands are recovering faster than New Providence, Mr D’Aguilar said: “When you dig into the numbers, Mr Speaker, 60 percent of the visitors are coming to Nassau and 40 percent are going to the Family Islands.

“So that confirms to me that the Family Islands are bouncing back faster than Nassau so far, since in 2019, 75 percent of the visitors came to Nassau while 25 percent went to the Family Islands. And that makes sense, Mr Speaker. With the onset of COVID, people wanted a low density, secluded vacation at a small boutique hotel or Airbnb....away from crowds and larger properties. And that is exactly what happened.

“And when you dig even deeper into the number, 27 percent of the persons going to the Family Islands went to Eleuthera (mostly Harbour Island), 20 percent went to Bimini and Cat Cay (mostly by boat from Florida), 19 percent went to Abaco, which is quite remarkable given the damage Hurricane Dorian put on that island and leads me to conclude that those second home owners are very very loyal to Abaco, and 17 percent went to Exuma.”

Looking towards a post-COVID recovery, Mr D’Aguilar said his ministry’s sales and marketing efforts in promoting The Bahamas were starting to pay off, especially with the revival of group business. “The Bahamas is showing an uptick in RFP (request for proposal) submissions and contracts for 2021 and beyond,” he added.

“To-date, we have already received more than 400 RFPs for groups through 2023, which would potentially translate to over 300,000 room nights. Of this, more than 20,000 room nights have already been contracted.”

Acknowledging concerns over whether there is sufficient airlift capacity to meet rising tourist demand for The Bahamas, Mr D’Aguilar said 17 commercial airlines are now providing service to this nation from 37 international markets.

He added that Frontier Airlines has confirmed that direct flights from Miami to Nassau will be available four times a week starting at the end of June, while Southwest Airlines had announced the resumption of service to Nassau from Fort Lauderdale on 7th October. The same airline will resume resume service from Baltimore to Nassau with two flights per week from October 9.

Air Canada and West Jet will resume flying to Nassau from Toronto and Montreal this winter, and are also exploring a Toronto to Exuma non-stop route. Air Caraïbes will resume its Paris to San Salvador service in December 2021, in line with Club Med’s planned re-opening.

“The Ministry is also exploring an Alpitour flight from Milan to Grand Bahama, and a charter from Romania to Nassau in either early fall or winter,” Mr D’Aguilar said. “It is clear to me that the momentum is building, and The Bahamas stands once again at the foundation of something major.

“I am quite sure that the good times are back within reach. In fact, Forward Keys recently that The Bahamas should attain just over 80 percent of its 2019 volumes in stopover visitors this summer.”