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News : Ministry of Tourism Updates Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM


MOT Reveals Baha Mar Delay Did Not Change Bahamas Annual Visitor Statistics
By Gena GIbbs, BIS
Jul 29, 2016 - 4:05:42 PM

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Director General of Tourism Joy Jibrilu. (BIS Photo/Kemuel Stubbs)

NASSAU, The Bahamas – Despite delay in Baha Mar’s opening, annual visitor statistics continue to increase steadily with the current boost of international and domestic tourism initiatives and increasing cruise and air travel stopovers throughout the 700 islands of The Bahamas, Director General of Tourism Joy Jibrilu announced at a briefing by the Ministry in the Governor’s Ballroom of the British Colonial Hilton, July 27, 2016.

Mrs. Jibrilu expressed a desire to encourage more Bahamians to vacation at home within the Family Islands to support domestic tourism and keep Bahamian money home. She said that according to the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), Bahamas tourism has contributed a total of BSD $4,129.3 million or 46.9 percent of GDP in 2015 and expects a rise of 2.6 percent in 2016.

"As the Ministry goes about the business of putting measures in place to grow our country's number one industry, it is critical that the Bahamian people, for whom we work, be made aware of what the Ministry of Tourism is doing on their behalf. MOT comprises a dynamic team of professionals working on many fronts to maintain our destination centre stage in the marketplace as the most desirable warm weather beach destination in the world. And by all objective indications, our team is doing a commendable job," said Mrs. Jibrilu.

According to the 2016 Caribbean Tourism Quality Index Resonance Report, Mrs. Jibrilu said "The Bahamas ranked among the top ten Caribbean countries in culture, entertainment, culinary and adventure, and 'leapfrogged' Jamaica to claim the number four spot in absolute rankings." She added that The Bahamas ranks number one out of all English speaking countries in the region, attracts the second highest number of visitors to the Caribbean, and ranks first overall for food and drink experiences.

"The report notes that development in the hotel sector still continues despite Baha Mar's delay in opening. The Bahamas' overall ratio of cruise visitors to stopover visitors reflects global trends. For reasons that are understandable, today's travelers are budget conscious and tend to opt for a cruise vacation," said Mrs. Jibrilu.

"Reflecting this trend, 70 percent of our visitors are cruise passengers while some 30 percent come by air as stopover visitors. Cruise passengers spend averages of $85 per visitor and stopover visitor spend is approximately $1,100.00 per visitor."

Mrs. Jibrilu said that with regard to the glaring disparity in spend between cruise visitors and stopover tourists, the Ministry has made it a priority to convert as many cruise visitors as possible into return stopover visitors and create greater incentives for cruise passengers to spend more onshore.

"In the first quarter of 2016, overall air arrivals to The Bahamas registered an increase of 2.2 percent over the same period last year. In the first quarter of 2015, our air arrivals numbers were at 375,962. Between January and March of this year, we received a little over 8,000 more air visitors, or a total of 384,324 for the first quarter of 2016," said Mrs. Jibrilu.

"As we look back at the comparison in spend between air and cruise visitors, we see that we are going in the right direction. Now, let's look at our numbers for cruise passenger arrivals for the first quarter of 2016 as compared to first quarter 2015."

Mrs. Jibrilu completed her report on the Visitor Arrival Statistics in revealing a breakdown of the downturn of 1.3 percent in cruise passengers. She said there were 1,377,752 cruise visitors in the first quarter of 2016, as compared to 1,396,240 in the first quarter of 2015.

"This slight decline in cruise passenger number is due to a brief period of inclement weather in early 2016, when certain cruise ships could not anchor off their private islands. Between March and June of this year, our numbers in both cruise and air arrivals are trending upwards," said Mrs. Jibrilu.

MOT's Team Tourism is also promoting the upcoming 2016 International Women's Empowerment Summit, a world class international conference, of 400-500 attendees, to be held in The Bahamas for two days on October 21st and 22nd, in partnership with Startup Woman and in collaboration with UN Woman. The Team encourages Bahamians to take advantage of the Summit when it comes here.

"This Summit is exceptional in that it will bring together right here on our shores, the biggest global names in women visionaries in leadership, business, education, politics, wealth creation, philanthropy, social empowerment, communication, creative arts, spirituality and faith, science and technology, and health and wellness," said Mrs. Jibrilu.

"This conference is another invaluable opportunity for us to showcase the best of our destination to high net worth individuals. One of the net benefits to our country is that our women will not have to travel thousands of miles to attend such a summit. They will be able to access the wisdom and life changing information of a world class summit right here at home," said Mrs. Jibrilu.

MOT unveiled 16 new Bahamas posters featuring 16 island-hopping destinations, which are part of a multi-destination campaign, eligible for buy one get one free (BOGO) air ticket incentives, depending on the size of the traveling party and the extended length of stay in each Family Island.

Mrs. Jibrilu announced new airlift connections for 2016, as she stated, "Marsh Harbour, Abaco, and North Eleuthera are now just one flight away from Atlanta on Delta non-stop service. British Airways Nassau/London route has been upgraded to four flights a week, from a 189 B-767 seater to a 275-seater B-777. Silver Airways has new flights to Nassau from West Palm Beach, Tampa, Jacksonville and Naples/Ft. Myers. Sunwing Airlines will offer scheduled flights to Grand Bahama Island in winter 2016, from multiple gateways in Canada. Alpitours seasonal flight from Milan, Italy to Grand Bahama Island began this summer."

In addition, Mrs. Jibrilu said "Southwest Airlines will offer daily flights from Fort Lauderdale to Nassau, effective August 2016. The Ministry of Tourism is actively pursuing negotiations for direct flights to Nassau from Continental Europe and West Coast, USA."

MOT has assured the public that The Bahamas has a very strong brand in the Tourism market, through its many partnerships with other global brands, connected to wider audiences.

"This fiscal year we will enter into a contract with Expedia, the giant of online travel booking, in an arrangement where they will match our amount in advertising dollars. Expedia owns many of the top online travel brands, with more than 150 sites in 70 countries and 35 languages. Sites such as hotels.com, Orbitz, Hotspot are all a part of the Expedia portfolio. In 2015, Expedia generated $110,000,000 in gross sales (air, hotel, & other) and more than 175,000 room nights to The Bahamas," said Mrs. Jibrilu.

"Another area in which we have partnered with global brands is sports. You're all aware of the mega publicity we achieved through our partnership with the Miami Heat and Popeye's Bahamas Bowl. We have signed contracts that will bring PHA tournaments to both Abaco and Exuma in 2017, and we will continue our collaboration with the LPGA to host the Pure Silk Golf Tournaments for several years to come."

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