The Tribune

Destination booking website, Kayak, has named The Bahamas as one of its top five locations to visit in 2019 after bookings increased by 45 percent over the past year.

“Though flights can be pricey — ranging from roughly $400 to $500 round-trip — those sugar-sand beaches, crystal blue waters and activities like snorkeling and deep-sea fishing have long made The Bahamas a hot spot for tourists,” the website said. “It’s trending once again as the Caribbean recovers from a rough tourist season.”

The Bahamas has frequently touted a strong 2018 tourism performance, with Ministry Of Tourism and Aviation (MOTA) officials reporting that stopover arrivals rose by 18 percent year-over-year from January to October 2018. The Expedia travel website disclosed that room night sales have grown by 30 percent, with forward bookings up by 9.2 percent.

Dionisio D’Aguilar, minister of tourism and aviation, said: “The islands of The Bahamas had an exceptional year. The Ministry of Tourism changed its focus to the booking sites where many people book, like Expedia and Kayak, and those sites saw increases. I think changing from traditional ways of advertising yielded great results.”

Joy Jibrilu, director-general of tourism, said even though The Bahamas has seen a tremendous increase there is still more to be done.

“We have worked very hard to get our numbers up and we have succeeded,” she said. “But we cannot rest on our laurels. We are still going to work diligently to draw more and more visitors to our beautiful destination, and we expect that 2019 will also be a great year for tourism in the islands of The Bahamas.”

The Ministry of Tourism added that it is getting set to rebrand the destination over the next month.