Nassau, Bahamas – Performance levels in the tourism sector in 2014 were ‘encouraging’ particularly in Grand Bahama. As stated by Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Perry G. Christie at Bahamas Business Outlook 2015, the country experienced overall growth in its number one industry last year.

“In our primary business sector, overall tourism performance improved last year, most notably in air arrivals which had consistently declined over the preceding six- year period,” said Mr. Christie. “For the first 10 months of last year air arrivals grew 4.5% over the same period in 2013 and a small contraction in sea arrivals netted an overall growth in arrivals of 3.5% or 5 .1 million visitors to The Bahamas.”

In Grand Bahama, the Prime Minister said that during the first 10 months of last year, the island experienced an overall growth rate of 38%, which was marked by a 43% increase in air arrivals, and a slight decline of 8% in sea arrivals.

Gains, he said, were also made in the Family Islands, which experienced an overall 3% growth in air arrivals and 9% growth in sea arrivals in the first 10 months of the year. Indeed last year most of the Family Islands experienced positive growth in arrivals with Exuma leading the way with a 15% increase in stopovers. Long Island followed at 11% and San Salvador with a 6% growth in stopovers.

He said, however, that recessionary conditions continue to be evident in Cat Island, Eleuthera and Andros, all of which continued to experience negative growth in visitor arrivals.

In New Providence, he said, growth has been ‘sluggish,’ due mainly to the loss of room inventory with the closure for renovations of the Wyndham, Nassau Palm and Paradise Island Harbour Resort hotels, and the lack of new inventory available to compensate for these losses. This was demonstrated, he explained, by only a 2% increase in air arrivals for the first 10 months of the year. Cruise arrivals increased by 3% over the same period, netting an overall growth of 2.3% for New Providence.

“Tourism becomes a fully functioning economic engine only with proper calibration of its four key drivers of airlift, cruise, product and events with stimulation of the marketplace. Some drivers such as airlift and cruise can be influenced to produce more immediate results from stimulation while others such as hotel developments require anywhere from 12-24 months lead time before any economic activity even begins.”

He also spoke of some of the discussions the government is having with stakeholders in the cruise business. He said that the Bahama Grand Celebration Cruise Lines, Grand Bahama’s largest provider of longer-staying visitors would re-launch its company with the new “Grand Celebration” which has the capacity to bring some 280,000 passengers year round.

“The combination cruise-and-stay package has the potential to boost room nights sold to 125,000 this year, from just under 50,000 in 2014, and to provide new employment in Grand Bahama for an additional 300-600 persons,” said Mr. Christie.

Other activities included, The Balearia’s $100 million dollar, superfast ferry which can hold 1,000 passengers and 200 containers sails from Ft. Lauderdale to Freeport (daily) is now in discussions aimed at relocating its call centre operations to Grand Bahama. In addition, the Government is in advanced discussions with two major cruise lines for the development of new cruise destinations with major attractions revolving around a Bahamian theme.

As it relates to airlift, Mr. Christie said that the Government and its partners in the tourism industry have spent ‘considerable’ time in identifying the right target markets that can produce incremental visitor traffic from air seats into The Bahamas in tandem with growth of hotel room inventory.

“As a result, air seat capacity to Nassau/Paradise Island in 2014 increased by 5% compared to 2013 and the Ministry of Tourism, in close collaboration with Industry partners, has taken steps to secure the incremental nonstop air seat capacity needed to accommodate the new rooms coming on stream at Baha Mar in 2015,” he said.

Grand Bahama Island experienced a significant increase in stopover arrivals due to increases in nonstop flights from several Canadian gateways by Sunwing Airlines, Bahamasair/Xtra Airways Spring/Summer flights from several U.S. cities, Delta Air Lines' increased frequencies from once a week to daily service from Atlanta and Silver Airways daily service from South Florida gateways.

In the Family Islands, Air Canada inaugurated weekly service in May 2014 from Montreal to San Salvador. In addition, Mr. Christie said that the government would be embarking upon a programme to upgrade airports throughout the Family Island at a cost of over $200 million.

“In Bimini, through public/private partnership, the airport runway has been completed, with equipment installed to facilitate night flights and paving of the main road so that Resorts World was able to significantly increase seaplane flights to Bimini last year with 2500 flights carrying over 7,000 passengers, now making it the busiest seaplane route in the Caribbean,” said Mr. Christie.