The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

MINISTER of Tourism and Aviation Dionsio D’Aguilar said yesterday officials will be revisiting their marketing campaign to include new updates about ongoing developments in Abaco following Dorian to help facilitate more visitors to the island.

This announcement came after tourism officials received criticism from Abaco residents about an advertisement that excluded the island.

Mr D’Aguilar said the new approach will also help change the narrative that the entire island is closed for business as a result of devastation left by the powerful Category Five storm.

“…We are adjusting all of our information to incorporate the developments that are ongoing on Abaco, “ he told reporters yesterday. “The Ministry of Tourism will become a lot more specific in how it reports the development of Abaco.”

Last week, the ministry came under fire by residents there after an image from the Bahamasair UP and Away inflight magazine circulated on social media, showing a map of the islands of the Bahamas all highlighted in orange except Abaco, suggesting that the island is not open for business. The island was also not highlighted on the ministry’s website promoting areas of the country to visitors.

Reacting to the image, many Abaconians took to social media to express their outrage and disappointment with the government’s decision to exclude Abaco from the list of possible tourist destinations.

“This kind of advertisement will not help our economy,” said one angry Facebook user from Abaco. “There are many places in Abaco ready to welcome people. Why you leaving us out?”

Meanwhile, another user added: “Abaco ain’t dead yet… plenty places are up open accepting tourists. They did us dirty for sure.”

Responding to the public backlash, the minister said: “I want to let the residents of Abaco know, message received and message heard.

“I think the Abaco residents, justifiably, got very annoyed that we weren’t being very aggressive enough in the beginning to get the message out that there are properties that are coming back on stream and that there are beginning to reopen and so I apologise for that.

“I think we probably didn’t react quick enough and my team is being completely remobilised now to reconsider that and to update all of our information and to let the traveling public know what’s open and what’s not open.”

Giving an explanation on why officials decided to exclude Abaco as a part of the campaign, Mr D’Aguilar said: “So, what happened was after Hurricane Dorian, the Ministry of Tourism divided the countries into 16 destinations to get the message out that the country was open for business.

“It identified Abaco and Grand Bahama initially after the storm that those two destinations were impacted by the storm and so, really shouldn’t be considered as islands to visit immediately after the storm.

“So, now here we are five months on and it’s time to consider that and I think the Ministry of Tourism probably didn’t react quickly enough to begin to change the narrative coming out of Abaco, so Abaco is obviously a destination back on the mend.”

Noting the situation to be a balancing act, the minister added that it’s important for officials to not send the wrong impression out to visitors.

“...It’s a balancing act because some journalists who went down there the other day who’ve been there before said they wished that they hadn’t gone,” he added.

“You don’t want the word to get out that they went to Abaco on holiday and they were shocked and appalled at the state of destruction.

“So, you know as I say it’s a balancing act and as properties come back on stream, we will do our endeavour best to get that message out.”