NASSAU, Bahamas — The Bahamas is seeing explosive growth in tourist arrivals so far in 2023, the Ministry of Tourism, Investments and Aviation said yesterday, expanding on earlier statements by the minister for tourism, and explaining that the improvement in tourism is stronger than expected, The Nassau Guardian reported on Thursday, September 7, in an article written by Jared Higgs.
July year-to-date arrivals are pacing 59 percent ahead of 2022 and 30 percent ahead of 2019, the ministry said in a statement.
“We are experiencing explosive growth in tourism that can no longer be explained by pent up post-pandemic demand,” Minister of Tourism, Investments and Aviation Chester Cooper said.
The ministry revealed that tourism performance has outpaced projections for the first seven months of 2023, with The Bahamas recording more than 5.8 million arrivals from January through the end of July. According to tourism officials, that puts the country “well on pace” to ending the year with eight million plus total visitors.
“Of the 5,893,118 total visitors who came to The Islands of The Bahamas in the first seven months of the year, 1,133,494 arrived by air and 4,759,624 by sea,” the statement said.
“Comparing 2023 overall arrivals by month, March arrivals peaked at 951,311, making it the busiest arrivals month in our history.
“To contextualize how significant the gains were in the first seven months of 2023, during the entirety of 2022, 1,470,244 visitors came to our shores by air; another 5,530,462 visitors arrived by sea. Tourist spending has also increased, the statement said, adding that major hotels in Nassau and Paradise Island “experienced occupancy rates for 2023, eclipsing those of corresponding periods in 2019 and 2022”.
The ministry said the average daily rate is up an average of 59 percent compared to 2019 and room revenues are up 42 percent for the same period
“More than 60 percent of visitors came to The Bahamas for the first time, with arrivals from nearly every region showing an increase over the same period last year,” the ministry noted.
Cooper said, “The stronger than expected results speak to vibrancy of The Bahamas’ brand” as well as the “hard work of tourism industry professionals and stakeholders”.
“We are seeing record arrivals because we have all worked together to resuscitate our tourism industry, coming out of the pandemic, and, because we continue to improve our tourism product,” Cooper said.
“With a better developed downtown to complement the new cruise port and added destinations within The Bahamas coming on stream, the numbers will only continue to grow, if we continue to deliver great service and experiences.
“The plan for the redevelopment of Family Island airports and the construction of the new airport in Grand Bahama will reap rewards for Bahamians well into the future.
“The last seven months of 2022 were the strongest in our history, prior to 2023. The first seven months of 2023 exceeded the expectations of tourism officials. Our job is to stay ahead of the demand.”
See complete article in The Nassau Guardian at https://thenassauguardian.com/tourism-numbers-are-stronger-than-expected/
