The Tribune

By Annelia Nixon

Tribune Business Reporter

anixon@tribunemedia.net

THE United Kingdom is “one of our most promising and steadily growing international markets this year”, the Nassau and Paradise Island Promotion Board’s chief executive said yesterday.

Speaking at the Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association's (BHTA) 73rd annual general meeting, Joy Jibrilu said visitor source market diversification has key in 2025.

“We've worked to expand our global reach, thereby ensuring that Nassau and Paradise Island is not overly dependent on any single market,” Mrs Jibrilu said. “Instead, we've strengthened our reach across - and efforts across- the UK and Canada, while continuing, and let me stress that, while continuing them in key US regions. Latin America is also on our radar, and preliminary work has already begun.”

She said a UK roadshow held in September exposed The Bahamas to London, Manchester and Edinburgh which have shown strong engagement and booking potential. “Each event brought together over 30 travel advisors as well as media and industry partners for meaningful conversations and updates that strengthen the relationships that drive bookings to all of our properties,” Mrs Jibrilu said.

She added that peak booking season was launched “with a high impact activation in Canary Wharf in London and South Bank, reaching over 600,000 people”. Mrs Jibrilu said The Bahamas had a creative presence with a London Bridge placement, a 19-page spread in Wanderlust Magazine and e-mail promotions. She said another strategy aimed at the UK market surrounded the filming of Taste of The Bahamas with British celebrity chef, Ainsley Harriott, which will launch in January 2026.

“This 10-part culinary series will launch in January 2026, and will showcase Bahamian chefs, our flavours, our people and our culture to more than 15 million viewers every week,” Mrs Jibrilu said. “It is one of the most powerful international story-telling opportunities to date.”

Mrs Jibrilu said Canada has been the fastest- growing international market for The Bahamas this year, with the highest Canadian airlift the country has seen, taking weekly non-stop flights from 19 to 39.

“A new service from Air Canada, WestJet and a new airline entrant, Porter Airlines, Canada now represents 10 percent of all inbound seats to Nassau, a major boost heading into peak season,” she said. “To support this new airlift, we launched targeted advertising in Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa and Halifax, supported by billboards, winter focus digital campaigns, partner, co-ops, influencers, trade famillarisation trips and PR activity. Our goal is simple: Ensure that every seat translates into a visitor.”

Mrs Jibrilu said PR and media outreach helped to amplify visibility year-round, and the Board’s PR generated more than three billion impressions through outlets such as Travel and Leisure, Afar, National Geographic and more, which translated to “millions of dollars in added value”.

“Our satellite media tour this summer featuring Nikia Deveaux-Christie, and our foodie storyteller, Nicholas Mitchell, reached over 29 million viewers across major US cities,” Mrs Jibrilu said. “With 40-plus placements and over $200,000 in media value, this was one of the strongest SMTs we've executed today. It brought Nassau and Paradise Island into living rooms across North America.

“Our website remains one of the most powerful engines of value for the destination. Year-to-date, 2025, we have seen 14 million visits, two million link-outs and increased time on-site to two minutes and 16 seconds. Top US markets such as New York, Dallas, Chicago, Atlanta and Philadelphia are outpacing last year's performance.

“And the great news is that internationally, Toronto, Montreal, London, UK and Calgary are all continuing to lead among our international markets. Our 2025 marketing campaigns delivered 238 TV impressions, 112 million digital, 88 million social, and 31.5 traditional media impressions.” 

Kerry Fountain, the Bahama Out Island Promotion Board's executive director, added: “We have nearly 300,000 and that's up 4 percent. And this only, by the way, is July through November. This was the fiscal year. Our fiscal year is July 1 through June 30. So this is just for the fiscal year

“It doesn't mean a hill of beans if somebody's coming to myoutislands.com and we're not sending that that hotel lead to Victor, or to Cheryl, or any one of my members that are in here. That is what is important. A number of people that are coming to myoutislands.com and then going off to the individual hotels website to research and perhaps do a booking, and the conversion rate is up 102 percent. That is the number of people that are coming to my website and then going to a hotel's website. So we're performing well with the couple of dollars that we have.”

Mr Fountain said with 84 percent of persons planning to travel more in 2026 compared to this year “the mood is bright”. However, he noted that they are conducting their research through artificial intelligence (AI), and those within the tourism industry must get on board with incorporating AI in their operations.