Paradise Island, Bahamas – The Bahamas is to unveil a new inter-island connective capacity which will divide the archipelago into 16 distinct island groups.
In this way, said Minister for Tourism Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace, the variety of the islands of the Bahamas can be developed.
“If Nassau and Paradise Island was an island in the Caribbean it would be No. 1 for cruise visitors and No. 6 for air arrivals, yet it is only 2 per cent of the land mass,” he said.
He said the differences between any two island groups in the Bahamas could be more pronounced than between two English-speaking countries of the Caribbean. Each of the 16 island groups would have its own logo and branding in order to present Bahamas as more than just Nassau and Paradise Island. Promotions would be unveiled including free onward connections to individual islands.
He said one innovation that had assisted in an increase of air arrivals was a Companion Fly Free scheme, which was backed by both private and public sector as a promotion on a 50-50 financial basis. It had led to more than 500,000 additional room nights booked.
All things being equal, low cost and high quality, frequent air services would stimulate travel.
Latin America was also becoming an important market and services on Copa Airlines were now six times a week. The destination was also benefiting from introducing increased Spanish language classes and the university college was involved in this.
Finally, sports tourism had also assisted in arrivals, with many sports teams visiting and bringing friends, fans and families. Because of continued growth plus the $2.5 billion Baha Mar development, Nassau International Airport is undergoing a $45 million development, which will increase potential capacity from 1 million to 5 million arrivals.
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Looks like they are taking it up a notch , they must really believe that tourism is important to the islands prosperity. I have to wonder how many locals there are demonstrating against development..