The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The deputy prime minister yesterday predicted that “barring an act of God” this nation can look forward to the “best year ever in the history of The Bahamas” with tourist arrivals 30 percent up on pre-COVID highs.

Chester Cooper, also minister of tourism, investments and aviation, reiterated his expectation for record tourism arrivals numbers at the Caribbean Investment Forum 2023’s launch. He added that the increase in airlift to The Bahamas has contributed to the “phenomenal growth” that has seen visitor arrivals for 2023 year-to-date exceed 2019’s comparatives by 30 percent.

“We are seeing phenomenal growth in tourism, supported by our aviation partners,” Mr Cooper added. “So we talked about Jet Blue direct from LA, we talked about direct flights from Seattle and LA on Alaska Airlines. American Airlines announced recently some phenomenal changes, additional flights; daily service from from Dallas, daily service from from Charlotte to many of the Family Islands including Abaco, Exuma, Eleuthera.

“Today we are seeing announcements from Delta with direct service from Florida to Nassau, daily direct non-stop service from Atlanta to Nassau. This is phenomenal. I invite the stakeholders to brace themselves. It’s good now and it’s getting better. We’re seeing a 30 percent arrivals number ahead of where we were in 2019.

“2019, I remind you, was a record-setting year, so barring an act of God we’re going to break the eight million visitor arrival mark. And we anticipate that based on the strategies that we’re putting in place by the Ministry of Tourism right now that we’re going to exceed the eight million tourists arrival mark, which would be the best year ever in the history of The Bahamas.”

Mr Cooper said Bahamians continue to capitalise on the short-term vacation rental market, and there are currently more than 5,000 listings in The Bahamas on Airbnb. He encouraged more homeowners to renovate and make rooms available, as short-term vacation rentals provide an opportunity for locals to “empower themselves”.

He said: “I think we have, at last check, more than 5,000 Airbnb listings alone. So this doesn’t factor in VRBO and other booking sites. So this is good for The Bahamas. Bahamians are taking advantage of this new trend. COVID spurred this on because people prefer to have their own spaces rather than to be in big resorts.

“In places like Exuma, it’s really filled the void for a lack of hotel rooms. So Bahamians are investing, they’re making money. It’s good for tourism, it’s good for the product and it’s helping to bridge the need for more rooms. I’m excited that Bahamians are using it as an opportunity to empower themselves. And I call on more Bahamians to participate, to make rooms available, renovate those rooms.”

“Many travellers are not necessarily looking for the presidential suite at Baha Mar or Atlantis; they prefer a ‘down home’ type experience. They want to go in Rolleville, Exuma. They want to go kite surfing and they want to walk back to their vacation rental units,” the deputy prime minister continued.

“Community-based tourism is something that we are supporting, along with that heritage and cultural tourism we are pushing heavily. I believe the Airbnb, VRBO and vacation rentals generally help us to get tourists directly in the communities to experience the warmth of who we are.

“And really that authentic people-to-people experience, whether it’s organised through our people-to-people programme or not. That connection to Bahamians in real communities is really something that cannot be duplicated anywhere in the world.”

Mr Cooper said the renovation of downtown Nassau’s British Colonial hotel should be completed by December. He added that airlift to Grand Bahama has increased, and that the Grand Bahama International Airport’s redevelopment is “progressing” although he provided no details yesterday.

He added: “We are seeing new developments across the islands of The Bahamas. We are anticipating by late November, early December that the British Colonial is going to be open. You’ll see some demolition work happening in the Cable Beach strip over the course of the next 12 months (the former Melia resort).

“I hope that we’ll see some more tangible movement in that direction. We have Montage coming in Abaco, we have Sampson Cay, we have Cave Cay, we have Elizabeth Island, we have Torch Cay in the Exumas. The future’s looking bright. We’re having a significant level of interest also in Grand Bahama. We have significant airlift also directed to Grand Bahama from American Airlines, and interest from Delta and Frontier and Bahamasair.

“We’re relaunching the Bahamasair flight to to Raleigh, North Carolina, so we’re doing some really exciting things and, of course, cruise continues to be off the charts as well. But in terms of building that stopover market, the president of BHTA is right, we can and will deploy more rooms over the course of time and we are excited about this possibility.”