This is compared to 2.3 million during the same period last year, according to Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe.
Tourism officials expect the industry to benefit even further as a number of major airline carriers increase airlift into the region.
Minister Wilchcombe told The Bahama Journal that he is confident that the trend of increasing numbers of tourists to the country will continue.
“We’re on a rebound,” he declared. “Tourism arrival numbers are up in New Providence. Airlift is up and that’s significant because we ended the year down, but it is now moving in the right direction. Airlift to the Family Islands are up by some 11 percent and sea arrivals by 14 percent.”
However, for the initial three months of the year, softening in United States travel demand as a result of the war lowered growth in visitor arrivals to 1.1 percent from 3.0 percent for a first quarter count of 1.2 million, according to The Central Bank of the Bahamas ‘Quarterly Economic Review.’
Now, the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) has revealed that a number of major carriers are increasing service to the Caribbean for the winter. The Bahamas expects to benefit from this move.
Just last week, Minister for State for Finance James Smith pointed out that the demand for increased airlift has been fueled by economic signs of recovery in the United States, which should mean that Americans will have more disposable income.
Meantime, Minister Wilchcombe said tourism officials have been working “feverishly” to get more airlift into the country.
“We have significant airlift to New Providence, so hoteliers here are of the view that we have what it takes at this particular time,” he said. “We just have to ensure that we get the seats filled at all times.
“In addition to that, we’re looking at the Family Islands getting more airlift, but for that to work effectively, we have to ensure that there are night flights…you’re never satisfied until you have the hotel rooms that are filled and you’re sustaining visitors.”
He said one of the major islands in need of additional airlift is Grand Bahama. Tourism officials want to ensure that there are direct flights to that island from cities like New York and Atlanta.
“In Grand Bahama, that’s where we’ve been having tremendous difficulty, but we recognize the reasons…Our long range plan is that we’re trying to get more business out of Europe,” Mr. Wilchcombe said. “Right now, we have British Airways that comes and it has been reported that it comes full at all times. We want to get additional airlift because we want to consider other areas like Germany, France and other areas that we are not tapping effectively.
“Fortunately, Grand Bahama has Fortuna which has a direct weekly flight that comes out of France. New York will come on stream later this year.”
Minister Wilchcombe feels that the problem of airlift to Grand Bahama would be alleviated with the introduction of more exciting amenities such as a new casino.
He revealed that the government should this week formally agree to the new operators of the casino at Our Lucaya.
“There were no objections to Isle of Capri so with all my expectations, Isle of the Capri will get the license,” he said. “And of course, we needed to ensure that Grand Bahama had more exposure. People just didn’t know about Grand Bahama as we thought they should, so we’re marketing Grand Bahama more.”
While he recognized the existing challenges, Minister Wilchcombe expressed optimism that the Bahamian tourism product will continue to recover.
“We’re looking forward to a wonderful season and, of course, we must sustain it,” he said. “I must re-emphasize the need for us to appreciate all of the work that is being done now. We have a hardworking team out there in the Ministry of Tourism, working extremely hard to ensure that we can put the tourism industry back to the position it once was.”
As The Bahamas competes for the tourism dollar, Minister Wilchcombe said there is still the need to improve the service visitors receive.
“Recently, I was so upset with some of the reports I’ve been receiving because we do more harm to ourselves and to our country because we do not protect our number one industry. We have to ensure that we are delivering on the service that we promised to the visitor before he arrives and if we don’t, we’re going to be subjected to criticism, to ridicule and we’re going to find ourselves always struggling to stay in the game.
“There are too many destinations competing for this tourism dollar and we have to every single day work harder on it… Bahamians have to be a part of this effort, to ensure that once we get the visitors here, we are not doing all we can to destroy the industry.”
By Hadassah Hall, The Bahama Journal
