The Ministry of Tourism and Aviation in Bahamas has reported that the country, despite the devastation and impacts that it underwent from Hurricane Dorian, has exceeded a record-breaking seven million visitors welcomed to the island last year.

In commenting on the success Dionisio D’Aguilar, minister of Tourism and Aviation, expressed pride at his country’s significant achievement.

“It is with great pride and pleasure that I report The Bahamas’ strongest tourism numbers in history. We look forward to building upon the success of our marketing efforts and continuing the momentum in 2020 as we show the world that The Bahamas continues to be open for business and has so much to offer visitors,” he declared.

“While the impacts of Hurricane Dorian are still felt, the hard work and dedication of Ministry partners have ensured that The Bahamas is still going strong. “This tremendous achievement would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of the team behind the scenes at the Ministry of Tourism as well as our industry and agency partners,” said Director General, Joy Jibrilu.

In a report by the Caribbean News Digital the impact of Hurricane Dorian has not slowed The Bahamas’ tourism growth. Since 2009, the islands have continuously seen a steady increase in air and sea arrivals with an impressive 52 per cent increase in just 10 years.

The country’s department of Immigration, Port Authority and Customs also dubbed 2019 as a recording-breaking year as they too have seen the highest number of arrivals by air and sea recorded in the country’s history.

“By the end of 2019, foreign air and sea arrivals had totaled more than 7.2 million, a 9.0 per cent increase from 2018. Stopover visitors alone were the highest in recorded history at 1.78 million with American visitors accounting for 1.45 million. The islands of The Bahamas expect to see this trend of increasing arrivals by air continue as major airlines, including United Airlines, British Airways and Delta Airlines, have increased their airlift to Nassau in 2020,” the report stated.

The Bahamian authorities are very anticipative of a continuation of this increase as they further makes mention of additional flights and services that will support their growth.

Reports updated that beginning March 29, British Airways will operate non-stop service between London Heathrow and Nassau every Tuesday. They will also offer non-stop service between London and Nassau Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

On the other hand, Delta Airlines has also expanded its airlift to Nassau this winter which started in December last year.

“The airline introduced daily nons-top flights from Boston Logan Airport to Nassau’s Lynden Pindling International Airport. Flights will run through April 30, 2020,” the news report stated.

— Kellaray Miles