NASSAU, Bahamas — Seeking to drive more visitors to Cat Island, the Ministry of Tourism opened a tourism office on that island last week. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism, Investments and Aviation Chester Cooper said the office, together with a targeted marketing plan, should lead to the island doubling its 1,749 visitors in 2021 by 2023, The Nassau Guardian reported on Monday, August 29, in an article written by Paige McCartney.
“The Cat Island you knew before as this quiet, laid back place where you see few tourists now and then is a Cat Island you will see no more,” Cooper said at a commissioning ceremony on the island Friday.
“Today is the beginning of that renaissance for tourism in Cat Island. At the end of 2021, Cat Island welcomed 1,749 visitors, which exceeded your visitor count in 2019 by 41 percent. We expect those numbers to double in 2023. Ninety-seven percent of your visitors come from the United States, which is our closest neighbor and our biggest market. We do a lot of work on Bahamas.com and Google analytics and we have received 39,000 views of what to do in Cat Island, and we have generated nearly 5,000 leads for hotels and tourism destinations in Cat Island.
“So, when I tell you we are at the beginning of a renaissance, we have the numbers to show for it. We are talking a lot about Mt. Alvernia, the Hermitage, the Cat Island Land and Sea Park, the Bahamian tradition of rake ‘n’ scrape, and we talked a lot about your son of the soil, the prime minister, being right here.”
Cooper said as the government seeks to increase tourism numbers to that island, it will by extension have to improve airlift and the island’s subpar airport. See complete article in the Nassau Guardian at https://thenassauguardian.com/dpm-tourism-on-cat-island-to-double-in-2023/
