The Tribune

The Government has moved to restructure tourism management as the country bids to increase its market share by 4-5 per cent.

Joy Ann Jibrilu, currently director of investments at the Bahamas Investment Authority (BIA), has been named as the new Ministry of Tourism director-general.

She replaces 30-year tourism veteran, David Johnson, who will become the chief executive charged with developing the Hotel Corporation of the Bahamas into a Tourism Development Corporation.

The Ministry of Tourism, in a statement, said the restructuring came as it repositioned to be more responsive to increased global demands and changing trends within the tourism market.

Mrs Jibrilu, in her current position, played a key role in negotiations for the joint venture between Sunwing of Canada and Hutchinson Whampoa that led to the opening of the Memories Grand Bahama property.

She also worked on facilitating the Eleuthera Cove project; Resorts World Bimini; the Albany and Mahogany projects in southwestern New Providence; and the expansion of Club Med in San Salvador.

Called to the Bahamas Bar in 1989, Mrs Jibrilu served as legal advisor in the Ministry of Finance from 2007-2008, and as a consultant to the Ministry of Financial Services and Investment between 2005 and 2007.

She served as a director on several boards, including the Securities Commission of the Bahamas, The Bahamas Financial Services Board (BFSB) and the Domestic Investment Board.

Mrs Jibrilu will be supported by a team featuring Ellison ‘Tommy’ Thompson, the current deputy director-general of tourism, who will now assume responsibilities for global marketing.

The Ministry of Tourism said it was aiming to increase the Bahamas’s market share by 4 per cent to 5 per cent through tapping into markets in North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia and the Caribbean.

It added that its 16/16/16 wedding campaign, which is sixteen weddings on 16 Bahamian islands on the 16 January, 2015, exceeded expectations as over 2,000 contestants have entered this content, mainly through the marketing tool of virtual social networking.

In the meantime, Mr Johnson and a reconfigured Hotel Corporation will be responsible for encouraging resort and hotel investment, and increasing room inventory.

“With this organisational restructuring, new tourism plants and brands, an innovative marketing strategy including sports and religious tourism in addition to tapping into niche markets, the Bahamian tourism product is poised for a massive resurgence” said tourism minister Obie Wilchcombe.