The Bahamian government is spending hundreds of millions on infrastructure development, heavily subsidising air travel and targeting Latin American visitors to significantly boost its travel sector, the country’s tourism minister said Monday.
Speaking at a press conference for journalists at the Caribbean Travel Marketplace in Nassau, Bahamas, Tourism and Aviation Minister Vincent Vanderpool Wallace said the 350,000-resident country saw more than five million visitors in 2011, according to unaudited figures.
Nassau air arrivals have increased 7.1 percent over last year, but much growth has also come from the sea, he said.
“Our cruise passenger business has exploded,” Mr. Vanderpool Wallace said. “The low-cost, high-quality option to the Bahamas is really by way of cruise ship.”
But attracting higher-spending overnight guests requires air travel subsidies, he added.
“Unfortunately we don’t have very much middle product, so we’re on the upper end of the cost of a vacation,” he said. “So we discovered that the best way for us to stimulate our business is to give people deals on coming to the Bahamas.”
For example, the Bahamian government and a group of private sector providers developed a “Companion Fly Free” programme, which has been successful so far, Mr. Vanderpool Wallace said.
See the Jan. 26, 2012 edition for full coverage.