The Tribune

By Fay Simmons

Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

A senior tourism official yesterday said several Family Island destinations have been "blowing it out of the water" as the Government seeks to drive increased airlift to the destination.

Dr Kenneth Romer, the Ministry of Tourism's director-general and director of aviation, told the Bahamas Out Island Promotion Board’s annual general meeting (AGM) that most locations are "holding their own" with positive numbers this year.

Abaco's overall arrivals are 32 percent ahead of 2022 for the year-to-date, and 7.5 percent up on 2019 to signal the continued positive rebound after Hurricane Dorian. “When we look at the tourism performance, the outer islands are holding their own. We have seen positive growth and trends in all of our Family Islands," Dr Romer said.

“You'll be very pleased to know that, at the end of this cycle to October, Abaco is about 17 percent below what you saw in the best year ever. That is exceptional news. That's your air arrivals. The overall arrivals on Abaco are 7.5 percent ahead 2019, and 32 percent ahead of last year. So good news for Abaco.”

Dr Romer added: "Andros has been just blowing it out of the water in terms of performance. We have the Berry’s and Bimini still trending a tad bit behind for air arrivals, but for overall arrivals, we’re so proud.

“Cat Island is trending ahead, Eleuthera is trending ahead, Exuma is trending ahead. We see Long Island, Mayaguana, all of our islands are trending ahead, so the Family Islands are doing a phenomenal job.”

Dr Romer said airlift into the Family Islands is being expanded with new routes into Long Island, Eleuthera and Abaco. “In just a week we're going to have historic airlift into Stella Maris, Long Island, North Long Island. They've been crying out for that," he added.

“We're going to add additional seats into Marsh Harbour through JSX air carrier. American Airlines in February is adding a new service into Governor's Harbour, Eleuthera. Western Air is adding additional seats into North Eleuthera, and so we are really committed to addressing the state of our Family Islands in terms of the airlift and also, at the same time, address Family Island infrastructure.”

Dr Romer added that Family Islands can often "get lost" as the majority of visitors arrive to New Providence. However, airlift into the Family Islands is being diversified through helicopter and seaplane services, providing the Out Islands with a unique experience.

He said: “We were very, very pleased with the performance of our Family Islands. Sometimes the Family Islands could get lost because we have the greater number of stopover arrivals coming into Nassau.

“In July of this year we launched the first-ever Bahamas National Aviation strategic plan, and a strong component of that speaks to how we must diversify Family Island airlift. We are diversifying airlift to the Family Islands through arrivals by seaplane and also helicopter.”

“The product is somewhat different, again from Nassau and Paradise Island, but then again, every airlift and passenger arriving to our Family Islands directly contributes in a very sustainable way to that economy," Dr Romer added.

“We're giving a lot of our support to Family Island airlift. Airlift speaks, again, to butts in your seats. It translates into heads in beds, and heads in beds translating into money in the pockets of our local entrepreneurs and stakeholders.”