The Tribune

Abaco has attracted 47,000 stopover visitors year-to-date, a Ministry of Tourism official says, with the island’s airlift capacity for international arrivals increasing for the third straight year.

Ellison ‘Tommy’ Thompson, deputy director-general of tourism, said: “In terms of air seat capacity, Abaco is up 9 per cent in 2016 over 2015, and a lot of that has to do with the new Delta fight into Marsh Harbour from Atlanta.

“Load factors in the 90 per cent on Delta are extremely positive for the destination.However, the rest of the international flights are around 70 per cent. That is not as healthy as it could be.

“In order for the airlines to be making money you have to have your load factors in the 90 per cent. Silver accounts for half of the non-stop life into Abaco in 2016, but American Airlines has made the plane bigger, so you’re getting more business out of there, too.

“Eight per cent of your business is now coming from the Atlanta gateway; before it was Florid,a and this can only grow as we get more connections out of the Atlanta gateway.”

Stopover visitors to Abaco in 2015 numbered 99,725, with 65,000 coming by commercial airlines and 21,900 arriving by private planes. A further 7,000 came by private boats.

Mr Thompson added: “Abaco is clearly poised for success, but we have to see how we can globally position Abaco. We have to make sure that the products are pristine and state-of-the-art.”