The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

THE return of a transatlantic flight from Europe touched down to a red carpet welcome at the Grand Bahama International Airport Thursday after an absence of four years.

Alpitour Airlines landed at 2pm after an eight-hour direct flight from Italy, with nearly 100 passengers. The service will continue for 11 weeks out of Milan, and is expected to be a “tremendous boost to tourism” here on Grand Bahama.

Tourism Director Betty Bethel; Russell Miller, president of the Grand Bahama Island Tourism Board; Grand Bahama Christian Council President Rev Peter Pinder, and officials from the Department of Customs greeted passengers as they stepped onto the red carpet.

The passengers will stay for a week at three all-inclusive resorts on the island, including the Viva Resort at Fortune Beach, the Memories Resort, and Lighthouse Point.

“We are really excited because we are finally back into the European market,” said Ms Bethel. “Alpitour came here about four years ago and this is the first time we had an opportunity to lure them back.”

Ms Bethel attributed the return of the European service to the hard work of the Bahamas Tourist Office in the United Kingdom. She said the programme would continue from June 9 to August 18.

“We are expecting at least 100 passengers every week. Today, we got 70 which was an excellent start,” she said.

Ms Bethel is very excited about the mix of markets that are now coming into Grand Bahama, including the European market.

According to the tourism executive, this summer officials have heightened their US services, which started with two new cities last week out of Houston and Dallas, Texas.

“So we are looking for a very healthy summer season and this (European) programme will obviously lend to that, Ms Bethel said.

Mr Miller believes that the return of the service from Europe after four years is significant and will be a boost to tourism.

“Anytime we get additional or new airlift to the destination it is a tremendous thing. This is the service that we were involved in four or five years ago and it is back again with direct service out of Europe. It is just tremendous; we had a full flight today.

“It is a seven-day programme and they are here for a week. We are pleased and excited about the opportunity,” he said.

When asked about the state of tourism in Grand Bahama, Mr Miller said “we are seeing a decline this year over last year, and primarily the decline is because of the devaluation of the Canadian dollar.”

He noted that while Grand Bahama has had strong support last year with Sunwing’s Canadian flights, they are not seeing the numbers as compared with last year.

“So we continue to be optimistic, but realistically the numbers are not trending currently in the right direction.”

Mr Miller said that Sunwing started its programme out of the US last month, with tremendous support out of Dallas and Houston with sold out flights, and will soon start services from Newark and Chicago.

“We are optimistic that the summer flights will offset some lost airlift we had from the first quarter of the year,” he said.

When asked his feelings about the sale of the Grand Lucayan Resort, the hotelier felt pretty optimistic about it.

“I hope we get a reasonable bid and something that the owners can accept. The deadline is next week so we are anxious to see what happens with that,” he said.

“I think we need to give them a couple weeks to go through it, evaluate the bids and then come back, and hopefully if something is agreeable and acceptable to them, that they can make that known and we have someone who is a true developer that will bring the needed capital to get the product up to standard, but in addition to that will partner with and bring in a reputable brand to the destination.”

“It is one thing we lack (in Grand Bahama), we have no brand and product here, and so we are optimistic and hopeful that we will get a good brand for that area,” he said.