The Tribune

By NEILL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A senior government official yesterday argued that The Bahamas needs to “rethink” tourism by treating its people as the country’s greatest selling point while also targeting “value” rather than visitor volume for its Family Islands.

Dr Kenneth Romer, deputy director-general of tourism and the Government’s aviation chief, told a panel discussion at the Andros Business Outlook conference that The Bahamas needs to “put our people ahead of product” and view them as the most important asset for this nation’s largest industry.

And he also asserted that Bahamians needed to broaden their definition of “sustainable tourism” beyond just environmental and marine protection to embrace “the preservation of our cultural and heritage assets” - elements vital to deliver the authentic local experience that world travellers are increasingly demanding from all destinations.

While acknowledging that Andros’ “natural assets”, such as its concentration of blue holes and the world’s third largest reef at 190 miles long, are vital to its economic sustainability and viability, Dr Romer told attendees: “I think our greatest product is really our people. So we need rethink the way we think about traditional tourism and put our people ahead of product.”

He added that Andros’ proximity to the US and Nassau, being just a 15-20 minute flight away from the Bahamian capital, together with its well-known flats fishing grounds, national parks and other natural attractions had left it well-placed “to be the capital when it comes to sustainable tourism”.

“Andros, more than any other island.. please forgive my bias, is poised again to be the leader when it comes to sustainable eco-tourism,” Dr Romer said, “but we have a responsibility because sometimes we think of sustainable tourism as the preservation of our natural environment or assets.

“When we look at the United Nations (UN) sustainability goals, there are two things that concern me. The development of natural tourism assets but, at the same time, the preservation of our culture has to be important. So, when we speak about sustainable tourism, it’s not only the protection or promotion of our natural ecosystems; it has to be done in such a way that it also has to preserve our cultural, our heritage assets.”

Dr Romer asserted that the future of Andros tourism lies in attracting a discerning, wealthy client base that spends heavily to impact all sectors of the economy rather than a model based on high visitor volumes and low per capita spending yields.

“So, when we look at sustainable tourism, Andros has the ability more than other island, OK, so all of our focus, love and attention has to give Andros not volume of passengers or clients but value,” the Ministry of Tourism’s director-general said. “Those are the ones that are going to come and spend money.

“You are not going to get 10,000 a month in Andros, but you may get 100 who are really going to change the economy of Andros, and that ought to be our focus - to develop Andros as a sustainable, but also the heritage, capital for The Bahamas.”

Dr Romer had earlier asserted that The Bahamas’ most important priority must be the creation of “a national strategy for the development of tourism” and similar plans for each of the Family Islands. He added that, since the turn of the century, many Bahamians have been conditioned to think in short-term five year cycles due to the regular changes in government until May 2026.

Noting that this had created expectation that national planning alters every five years, the tourism and aviation chief added that his time in government had exposed the “competing agendas” of different ministries and agencies and the vacuums, or silos, that leave them operating in isolation - tendencies that have undermined The Bahamas’ development progress.

Dr Romer warned that tourism “is doomed to failure” if isolated from other sectors as he responded to panel moderator, Kerry Fountain, asking him to identify “the single most important issue” that must be tackled within the next five years if Andros is to achieve long-term prosperity.

Describing his reply as “non-traditional”, he added: “Usually I would speak about sustainable tourism, infrastructure development, those sorts of things - heads in beds, airlift, interconnectivity. They are academic answers we have been trained to speak to in response to the question you asked, but Kerry, we have to begin with the end in mind. Nothing succeeds without a strategy.

“So the first thing you asked about a five-year plan, fortunately or unfortunately, in our country we have been trained to think in five-year cycles. A new minister comes in, a government transitions and we have a strategy that does not survive a five-year lifespan.” Dr Romer said there has to be a “synergised strategy” for Andros’ own development as well as one for the entire Bahamas.

Speaking to his experience in government, and dealing with various ministries and agencies, he added: “What I have discovered, Kerry, is there are sometimes competing agendas siloed in their approaches that do not lend to success in terms of national development. The first and most important thing for us to do is come together and actually develop a national strategic plan that speaks to tourism development.

“It cannot be done in isolation. Tourism independent of other industries and stakeholders is doomed to failure. Tourism cannot exist in a siloed approach.” Dr Romer said a tourism development strategy needs to extend beyond a five-year time horizon and focus on the next 10 to 20 years, and answer questions such as the level of support that Andros requires to be “the leader of eco-tourism”.

“Unless we get answers to those types of questions, we are living in a make-up world. It’s aspirational as opposed to objectives that can be seen, measured and easily achieved,” Dr Rollins said. “The number one element we have got to have is a national strategy for the development of tourism and the development of each island in our country.”