The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

A network of luxury travel agencies has ranked the Bahamas among the top 10 destinations for early 2015 travel, with this nation’s year-over-year growth for the first three months said to be up 20 per cent.

Commenting on the Virtuoso reports, which saw the Bahamas ranked eighth on its ‘Hot List’  for January through March 2015, tourism minister Obie Wilchcombe said this nation has to focus on quality of service offered.

“We have the inventory coming on this year and we feel good about it. We have new developments in New Providence and Grand Bahama,” he said.

“We have new cruise lines coming into the Bahamas as well as more airlift. We are getting set to announce several new carriers to begin coming to the Bahamas, beginning in February and March.

“What we have to do is focus on our service, the quality of our service. The Bahamas is a high brand and we have to maintain that distinction and live up to it.”    

Virtuoso, the luxury travel agency network, has unveiled two reports based on surveys of its member agencies that show the destinations and travel preferences of their customers.

In the first report, Virtuoso found that the greatest volume of business from the network is heading to mostly warmer spots in the southern hemisphere for the 2015 first quarter. For the months of January through March, the top 10 destinations,  include  Mexico, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Argentina, the United Kingdom, Costa Rica, South Africa, Hong Kong and Chile.

Virtuoso’s ‘Hot List’, which shows the destinations that are seeing the most year-over-year growth in the first three months, lists Singapore, New Zealand, Aruba, Israel, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, France, the Bahamas, Chile and Spain in the top 10.

According to Virtuoso’s client profiles, ‘Baby Boomers’ still represent the largest segment of travellers for its agencies, although the network is seeing a surge in ‘Generation X’ clients that has put them ahead of those born before 1946.

In terms of travel preferences, Millennials and Generation X-ers like private or escorted tour experiences (38 per cent and 34 pe rcent, respectively), and prefer hotel stays over cruises (both at 15 per cent). Tour experiences include Virtuoso’s on-site destination partners, which can create bespoke individual trips.

Meanwhile, Boomers and Seniors continue to favor cruises, at 26 per cent and 42 per cent, respectively.