The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas must "tell a better story" to correct its tourism "product deficiency", a Cabinet Minister yesterday confirming he is targeting a 15 per cent increase in African-American visitors.

Dionisio D'Aguilar, minister of tourism, told Tribune Business this was likely one of the easiest niche markets for the Bahamas to penetrate, given its proximity to the US and shared history and culture.

While he acknowledged that a 15 per cent increase would only grow the Bahamas' annual African-American stopover visitors to around 100,000, Mr D'Aguilar said it was part of a drive to provide improved tourist experiences that established a stronger 'connection' with this nation's market.

"We feel there's a great connection between African-Americans and the Bahamas," the Minister told this newspaper. "There's a historical relationship. The loyalists emigrated to the Bahamas with their slaves, and many Bahamians today are descended from those immigrants.

"As a result a lot of our culture is connected to African-American culture in terms of similar foods, singing, worshipping and, as a result, we feel we can connect easily with them because of the historical relationship."

Mr D'Aguilar said Bahamian actor, Sidney Poitier, and Martin Luther King's visit to Bimini, where he wrote the 'I have a Dream' speech, provided further further historical and cultural reference points that connect this nation to the African-American community.

"They're an easier group to sell to and entice to our country than others," he added. "A lot of them know of and like the Bahamas, and we need to entice them to historical events that connect them and our two countries. It's low-hanging fruit."

The Minister of Tourism said his ministry was focusing on providing visitors with experiences of the Bahamas that they will remember for a lifetime, moving this nation's business model away from reliance on 'sun, sand and sea'.

"We're trying to tell a better story and make it a more interesting destination," he told Tribune Business, "creating a more interesting story to tell so that people have a connection.

"We've got a product deficiency we've got to work on in terms something interesting to do. We've put emphasis on this, and need private sector companies to rise up and take advantage."

Mr D'Aguilar cited the recent Junkanoo in July event as an example, saying it attracted a mostly Bahamian audience despite being an ideal venue to immerse tourists in local culture.

"I thought we could have done a better job of attracting more tourists to come," he said. 'While we have great products, we're not marketing it sufficiently to visitors, so they can participate and have that experiential experience."

Mr D'Aguilar, speaking at the fourth annual International Multicultural & Heritage Tourism Summit Apex Awards last week, said: "Our heightened focus on the African-American travel market comes at an opportune time when the Bahamas tourism product is being holistically re-calibrated, overhauled and fine-tuned.

"There are particularly five areas of product improvement that will make the Bahamas particularly attractive to the African-American market."

Those areas are refurbishment and development of historical and heritage sites; strengthening the Bahamas' heritage and cultural events; embracing quality customer service; the increase in authentic experiences; and strengthening social connections between guests and local Bahamians.

"The growth of our tourism business is best achieved through expanding our niche markets. For us, the African-American travel market is a highly attractive market segment. The Bahamas has been a choice destination where African-Americans have been coming for years to rest, relax and rejuvenate. We will continue to work on all fronts to maintain a very desirable tourism product and to pay close attention to those areas of our product mix that appeal to the African-American market," said Mr D'Aguilar.

The Bahamas has already committed to key partnerships with the African-American community, including a media partnership with Black Enterprise, which will host its first offshore event called the 'Women of Power Weekend Retreat' in Bimini in October 2017.

Membership of the National Coalition of Black Meeting Planners (NCBMP); participation in the Black Caucus week of events held in Washington D.C; and the partnership with Radio One to reach the African-American audience in markets such as Chicago, New York, Atlanta, Washington, Los Angeles and Miami/Fort Lauderdale will continue.