Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe addresses media in Vancouver, Canada
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Vancouver, BC - Tourism
officials are expecting a significant increase in the number of visitors to
Grand Bahama Island due to the introduction of new weekly direct flights into
Freeport from two Canada gateways.
Residents of Western Canada can look forward to a faster and
easier way to get to The Bahamas when Sunwing Airlines launches its new services
from Vancouver and Calgary on November 1, 2014.
It has been more than 30 years since Grand Bahama welcomed a
direct flight from Vancouver.
Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe, and Director of the
Grand Bahama Tourist Office Betty Bethel made the exciting announcement during
a special luncheon for Canadian press at the Rosewood Hotel Georgia in
Vancouver on Tuesday, October 21, 2014.
With the introduction of the non-stop Vancouver and Calgary
flights, Sunwing will offer direct service into Grand Bahama from eight Canadian
gateways. The airline currently offers direct flights from Toronto, Montreal,
Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa, and Halifax.
“This is an amazing opportunity as it opens Canada up to The
Bahamas from the east coast to the west coast,” said Tourism Director General
Joy Jibrilu.
“People in the west coast may think that The Bahamas is just
so far away and many of them choose to visit Hawaii instead. With these direct
flights, it is just as easy to get to The Bahamas as it is to get to Hawaii,
and so now we’re attracting a whole new market.”
Sunwing Vacations is the leisure tour operator responsible
for Sunwing Airlines, as well as the Memories Grand Bahama Beach and Casino
Resort that officially opened in Freeport earlier this year.
According to Director of Marketing Services of the Grand
Bahama Island Tourism Board Carmel Churchill, Sunwing Vacations has played a
major role in the revitalization of Grand Bahama, and she expects even more
growth with the addition of the two new flights.
“Already we have seen that it has been quite successful for
us. We’ve seen over 25,000 new visitors come to the island because of the
Sunwing partnership,” she said.
“We anticipate that Grand Bahama will see an increase in air
arrivals of up to 35 per cent with direct flights from the additional two
cities – Vancouver and Calgary.”
Director of Sales at Sunwing Graeme Franklin, Director General Joy Jibrilu and Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe pose at a press briefing for the announcement of Sunwing's new air service from Vancouver, Canada to Grand Bahama. (Photos by Derek Smith/BIS)
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