From thebahamasweekly.com -
400,000 new Air Seats Expected in 2010
By Betty Vedrine
Mar 10, 2010 - 12:50:43 PM
Nassau, Bahamas - In the middle of a recession, 2010 will see an increase of over 400,000 new air-seats bringing a potential visitor spend of an additional $400 million compared to 2009, Minister of Tourism Senator the Hon Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace explained.
During his budget communication in the Senate, Monday, March 8, Mr Vanderpool-Wallace praised the Ministry of Tourism’s team for delivering “the largest annual increase in air seats ever”.
These new seats include nonstops to Exuma, Abaco and Eleuthera from the United States and Canada.
This significant increase is a direct result of a ‘particular’ marketing strategy adopted in the tourism industry, he said.
“You may also recall that we have established as our principal strategy assuring that our proximity to the United States is reflected in the cost and ease of travel to The Bahamas.
“Thanks to perhaps the best example of private public sector cooperation that we have ever mustered, we created and deployed what is being hailed as the most innovative and successful promotion in Bahamas tourism history, Mr Vanderpool-Wallace said.
Campaigns such as “companion fly free” or “2 for 1 airfare” have been “selling like hot cakes,” he revealed.
Over an eight-week selling period, approximately 9,000 bookings representing some 35,000-room nights have been generated with the pace of bookings still going very strong, he added.
“The pace has been so strong that our joint private/public sector team has agreed to extend the offer throughout the full year of 2010 even though we agreed initially to end the offer on March 3rd.”
In the middle of all of this, traffic on Bahamas.com is reaching all time highs with some monthly increases of over 56 per cent since the beginning of our offers, Mr Vanderpool-Wallace said.
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