NASSAU, Bahamas, September 8, 2020 — The Bahamas was listed as the second most desirable Caribbean destination that Americans would visit in the next two years, according to a recently conducted survey by leading global travel company Travelzoo, the Ministry of Tourism revealed yesterday, the Nassau Guardian reported on September 8 in an rticle written by Paige McCartney.
The survey, conducted between August 7 and 14, polled Americans and Canadians on their travel interests amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The ranking for Americans was the United States Virgin Islands, The Bahamas, Turks and Caicos Islands, Aruba, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Cayman Islands, Saint Martin, British Virgin Islands and St. Lucia; while for Canadians it was Cuba, Dominican Republic, Turks and Caicos, The Bahamas, Barbados, Jamaica, Aruba, St. Lucia, Saint Martin and Curacao.
Forty percent of US participants in the survey said they would book a vacation in 2020 at the earliest, but 67 percent would wait to travel until 2021; while 30 percent of Canadian members would book in 2020 at the earliest, but 61 percent would wait to travel until 2021.
“According to the same survey taken by Travel Zoo in mid-August, the great news for us is that 46 percent and 49 percent of Americans and Canadians respectively are interested in traveling to the Caribbean, the highest percentage for any region at this time,” said Director General of Tourism Joy Jibrilu.
“We actually also see a considerable amount of undecided travelers and we know that they also provide an opportunity for us at Tourism to convert them to travelers as well. Even better news for us in this region is that when people were asked specifically which country in the Caribbean they want to travel to, American responders rated The Bahamas second out of the top ten destinations and Canadians placed The Bahamas fourth out of the top ten destinations,” she added.
The top reason listed for choosing a destination was safety and security, with just under 90 percent of respondents saying they want to feel safe at their destination, followed closely by great travel deals and that the destination has consistent declining cases of COVID-19.
“Noteworthy however in that same survey was that amongst everything, clear travel information ranks number one even above cleanliness,” Jibrilu said.
The number one reason listed why persons would visit The Bahamas is the beaches.
