CHTA Marketplace| Bahamas records record arrivals despite Hurricane Dorian

NASSAU, Bahamas: 
Despite the devastating impact of Hurricane Dorian, a powerful category five storm, which rocked two of its islands last year, The Bahamas ended 2019 with record tourist arrival figures.

Speaking at the 38th Caribbean Travel Marketplace on Wednesday in The Bahamas, that country’s Director General in the Ministry of Tourism and Aviation Joy Jibrilu said the island had 1.78 million stopover arrivals, its highest record ever.    

Combined, stopover and cruise visitors to The Bahamas, as at the end of November 2019, recorded 6.53 million or a 9.8 per cent increase over the same period in 2018.

The December 2019 figure is yet to be tabulated.

The country’s numbers began declining in September 2019 after Hurricane Dorian hit and that trajectory has continued with stopover visitors,

However, the immense strength of the first eight months in 2019 saw the country experiencing an 8.1 per cent increase.

“Before September, we were experiencing stopover percentage increases in double digits,” Jibrilu said, adding that the United States continues to be the country’s most lucrative source market, with 1.45 million Americans vacationing in The Bahamas in 2019.

“So through it all, God has still been good to The Bahamas,” she stated.

Jibrilu hinted that the archipelago has likely eclipsed the 2018 overall tourist arrival figures, but stated that the Bahamas Tourist Board was holding out until the official figures are tabulated before making an official announcement.

In terms of forward bookings, she said it was early days yet and as a consequence, an accurate prediction could not be made at this time as the figures in hand are only based on data from airlines, acquired through the Global Data System.

Pointing to preliminary figures, which was indicated that things look positive for January but there was an obvious decline for February and March.

It is hoped the current Caribbean Travel Marketplace will fillip the numbers.

Some 1,000 delegates from 38 countries are in attendance at the conference signing contracts and brokering deals.

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