The Tribune

By LETRE SWEETING

Tribune Staff Reporter

lsweeting@tribunemedia.net

THE Ministry of Tourism revealed yesterday that The Bahamas has had more than five million arrivals in the first seven months of this year, predicting a visitor rate of more than eight million by the end of the year.

In a statement released yesterday, the ministry hailed this year as one of the best in Tourism with notable rises in visitors, tourist spending and hotel occupancy rates. In addition, cruise arrivals are up by 72.1 percent from January to July 2023, compared to the first seven months of 2022.

“Tourism performance has outpaced projections for the first seven months of 2023, with The Bahamas recording more than 5.89 million arrivals from January through the end of July. Current tourism performance puts the country well on the way to closing out the year at 8 million plus visitors,” The Ministry of Tourism said.

“Of the 5,893,118 total visitors who came to the islands of The Bahamas in the first seven months of the year, 1,133,494 arrived by air and 4,759,624 by sea.”

July 2023 has been the busiest July since 2019, with March being the “busiest arrivals month in our history”, the Ministry of Tourism said.

“July year-to-date arrivals are pacing 59 percent ahead of 2022 and 30 percent ahead of 2019, the busiest year on record.

“Comparing 2023 overall arrivals by month, March arrivals peaked at 951,311, making it the busiest arrivals month in our history. To contextualize how significant the gains were in the first seven months of 2023, during the entirety of 2022, 1,470,244 visitors came to our shores by air; another 5,530,462 visitors arrived by sea.”

The ministry noted that overall tourist spending has risen significantly.

“Major hotels in Nassau and Paradise Island experienced occupancy rates for 2023 eclipsing those of corresponding periods in 2019 and 2022. Average Daily Rate (ADR) is up an average of 59 percent compared to 2019 and room revenues are up 42% for the same period. More than 60 percent of visitors came to The Bahamas for the first time, with arrivals from nearly every region showing an increase over the same period last year.”

Meanwhile, the new $300m Nassau Cruise port opened in May, has seen the largest number of cruise arrivals in recent years, up 72 percent from last year and 43 percent ahead of 2019, before the pandemic measures.

“In our cruise business, The Port of Nassau welcomed the largest share of cruise arrivals followed by The Berry Islands (Coco Cay), Bimini (mainland and Ocean Cay), Half Moon Cay, Grand Bahama and Abaco (Castaway Cay), respectively,” The Ministry of Tourism said.

“Overall cruise arrivals, January through July, are up 72.1 percent over the corresponding period last year, and 43 percent ahead of the 2019 historic cruise arrival figures. Overall air stopover arrivals, which represent, ‘heads in beds’, surpassed the same period 2022 numbers by 24 percent, and matched 2019 figures.”

The Ministry of Tourism said 90 percent of visitors through the port hail from the United States, with 70 percent of stop over visitors coming in for vacation. Fifteen percent came in for weddings, six percent to play in casinos, four percent for business and five percent for other/undisclosed reasons.

In the statement, Chester Cooper, Tourism, Aviation, Investments Minister said: “The stronger than expected results speak to vibrancy of The Bahamas’ brand, methodical business strategies and the hard work of tourism industry professionals and stakeholders. We are seeing record arrivals, because we have all worked together to resuscitate our tourism industry, coming out of the pandemic, and, because we continue to improve our tourism product,” said Mr Cooper.

Mr Cooper elaborated on the country’s tourism performance:

“With a better developed downtown to complement the new cruise port and added destinations within The Bahamas coming on stream, the numbers will only continue to grow, if we continue to deliver great service and experiences. The plan for the redevelopment of Family Island airports and the construction of the new airport in Grand Bahama will reap rewards for Bahamians well into the future.”

“The last seven months of 2022 were the strongest in our history, prior to 2023. The first seven months of 2023 exceeded the expectations of tourism officials. Our job is to stay ahead of the demand.”

Mr Cooper added: “We are experiencing explosive growth in tourism that can no longer be explained by pent up post-pandemic demand.

“Great jobs and career opportunities are to be had in tourism, but there is also massive potential for ownership. The government is putting in place systems to allow Bahamians access to the training, certification, support and capital they need to take advantage of the country’s popularity as a tourist destination.”