MIAMI, Florida, October 10, 2021 — The National Association of Black Hotel Owners, Operators and Developers’ (NABHOOD) held its 25th annual International African-American Hotel Ownership & Investment Summit & Trade Show at the Miami Marriott Biscayne Bay, October 8 – 10, 2021.
The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, Investments & Aviation participated in the event and, according to a press release, Deputy Prime Minister the Honourable I. Chester Cooper, who is also Minister of Tourism, Investments and Aviation, gave remarks along with other key leaders from top hotel brands in the Caribbean region and expressed why investing in The Bahamas right now is optimal.
“In recent years, The Bahamas has benefitted from close to 3 billion dollars in foreign direct investment,” the Deputy Prime Minister said. “Development projects have ranged from mega resorts, marinas and attractions to boutique hotels. This ongoing development activity is a strong indicator of one thing — investor confidence.”
Mr. Cooper added, “We project continued growth in visitor arrivals in the months ahead, based on positive hotel bookings. There has been a significant increase in airlift fueled by pent-up demand for travel. Currently, there are direct or one-stop flights to The Bahamas from every major region of the United States.”
The Deputy Prime Minister, in his closing remarks, encouraged all attendees to invest in The Bahamas.
“The Bahamas has in place all the prime conditions conducive to propelling economic growth, in the short-to-medium and long term. I invite you to come to The Bahamas, invest and grow with us.”
According to an article in HOTEL BUSINESS, the general opening session was all about making sure the next generation of African-American hoteliers have all the tools to succeed.
“Diversity is about ownership and ownership is the only defining ingredient where you have an opportunity to say to the people that you are with, ‘You are going to do this,’” said Andy Ingraham, NABHOOD founder/president/CEO, and a member of the Hotel Business Advisory Board, who then discussed how his organization hopes to be for African-Americans what AAHOA is for Asian-Americans.
“The Asian-American hotel owners own [a majority]of all the hotels in the United States,” Ingraham said. “What they’ve done is they’ve developed a second generation of owners. What we want to do is emulate what the Asian-Americans have done, and that is create a whole new generation of hotel owners.”
