NASSAU, Bahamas, December 20, 2023 — With The Bahamas seeing record tourist arrivals, Bahamas Hotel Tourism Association (BHTA) President Robert “Sandy” Sands said yesterday some Family Islands have exceeded expectations this year, The Nassau Guardian reported in today’s edition in an article written by Rachel Scott.
“A number of islands, in particular, Andros, certainly Exuma and a number of islands have been doing much better,” Sands said. “And the Abacos have picked up again.”
He added, “I think it’s fair to say that most of the islands of The Bahamas are benefiting from the increase in tourism at this point in time and we wish for that to continue. Bookings for the Christmas festive season I think are pacing ahead of the same time last year and we look forward for that to continue.”
Minister of Tourism, Investments and Aviation Chester Cooper revealed earlier this month that The Bahamas crossed the eight million visitor mark in October, beating out the record 7.2 million visitors in 2019.
The country welcomed a record number of over two million stopover visitors so far this year.
At the time of the announcement, Cooper said the only thing holding The Bahamas back from presenting even higher stopover visitor numbers is a short stock of available rooms.
In Nassau, the newly-renovated British Colonial, which opened on Monday, is already more than half full for Christmas.
And Sands, who is also Baha Mar’s senior vice president of government and community relations, said earlier this month that the resort has been seeing its best performance since opening six years ago.
