The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Chief Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas welcomed nearly five million visitor arrivals in the first four months of this year, Tourism Minister Glenys Hanna-Martin revealed yesterday, as she urged a shift in how tourism success is measured.

Mrs Hanna-Martin presented the latest figures in the House of Assembly yesterday,  while stressing  that growth in arrivals does not automatically translate into greater prosperity.

She said between January and April, the country recorded 4.9 million visitors by air and sea across all islands — an 88 per cent increase over the same period in 2019 and a 13.9 per cent rise compared to last year.

Foreign air arrivals also grew, rising by 5.5 per cent over the same period in 2018 and by 4.3 per cent compared to 2025.

On spending, she said estimates place cruise passenger expenditure between $85 and $150, compared to an average of about $2,700 per stopover visitor.

“In other words, 80 per cent of visitors come via cruise and contribute approximately 20 per cent to tourism spending. I do not think the case can be made any stronger than what these stark figures expose.”

She said more must be done to encourage cruise passengers to spend beyond controlled areas and engage with the broader economy.

She added that discussions will soon begin with industry stakeholders and cruise lines to improve spending patterns and convert cruise visitors into future stopover tourists.

“Many destinations have learned that increasing arrivals does not on its own increase prosperity,” she said. “The Bahamas already attracts high-spending visitors, so the work before us is to maximize local capture of that spending.”

“The question we must keep asking is, how much value each visitor generates, and how much of every tourism dollar stays in the local economy.”

She said the goal is to increase visitor expenditure, length of stay, repeat visitation and the proportion of tourism revenue retained within The Bahamas.

The strategy, she added, is built on five pillars, including tourism yield and economic retention, airlift and connectivity, climate-resilient tourism, and digital tourism leadership.

She also pledged a stronger focus on workforce development, saying too many Bahamians remain under-represented in high-income tourism positions.

“It is insane and that must change and it will change,” she said.