Two leading lights of the $680 billion global industry warned against complacency yesterday at the Small Island Development State Tourism Conference at the Wyndham Nassau Resort, and mapped out their visions of the future.
John Issa, the SuperClubs Breezes company director and consultant, highlighted the threat that new super-size cruise liners will pose to the luxury goods sector here.
Many cruise ships offer all-inclusive deals that give them the monopoly on the “cruise dollar”. In fact, Mr Issa said, some “mega ships” had strip malls rivaling the size of Bay Street in downtown Nassau.
Although nearly 75 per cent of tourism earnings come from cruise visitors, Mr Issa said focusing on stopover tourism is the way forward.
Francesco Frangialli, the United Nations World Tour-ism Organization Secretary, went even further.
He said The Bahamas must not limit its focus on “beach tourism” and should move into the business traveller sector and possibly eco-tour-ism. According to him, the country should offer a full range of products “to help you to become more sustainable and more diversified and less dependent on the seasonality of the sector”.
Another key cause of concern is the money that is ‘lost’ through the tourism industry.
‘Leakage’ has always been a big problem. Out of every dollar spent here, 85 cents is lost in imported goods vital to sustain the industry.
According to Anthony Clay-ton, Professor at the Univer-sity of The West Indies, the Caribbean has the highest rates of leakage worldwide.
He said this is “partly because there are few links between the hotel industry and the private sector.”
The Bahamas leads the region in terms of leakage rates at 85 per cent.
We are closely followed by Turks and Caicos at 69 per cent, Cayman Islands at 65 per cent and Anguilla and Barbados at 66 per cent.
Even though The Bahamas boasts of being one of the top tourist attractions in the region, it lags behind other destinations in terms of real benefits derived from its core industry.
Even though tourism statistics indicate a projected growth of four per cent for “small island developing states”, The Bahamas still has a long way to go to reach sustainable development, the conference was told
Fragile ecosystems are a problem for tourism-dependent countries and they are threatened by global warming, Mr Frangialli pointed out.
He also said that even though islands such as The Bahamas benefit more from tourism than larger countries, they are still vulnerable to external shocks and natural disasters, like hurricanes.
But despite the setbacks tourism has suffered over the last several years, Mr Fran-gialli said the industry has rebounded since 2004.
By: BARRY WILLIAMS, The Nassau Guardian
