Officials of the Bahamas Out-island Promotion Board have been watching the country’s tourism numbers as they begin to pick up in this covid-19 environment.
Executive Director Kerry Fountain told us that members – which comprise family island hotel operations -saw an increase in bookings and interest in visiting the Bahamas since vaccinations began to pick up in the United States in February. He cited one hotel operation.
“They actually have people for May June July on a waiting list to stay at a hotel, could you imagine a waiting list to stay at a hotel? This is not a restaurant; this is a hotel.
“Not all hotels are seeing that, or having that same success; some are doing much better than others, but in general we project, based on how things are going now, we project that our business in terms of room nights sold and room revenue, could be – and it could get better. It will be about 65% of what it was in 2019” Fountain said.
While international passengers to the Bahamas learn more about our tourism covid-19 protocols before travelling here, there are other items on the promotion board’s list they feel will help further peak a visitor’s interest.
“We’ve been working with a developer in Nassau to develop a digital immigration card and if that was to come about, that would give our hotels a competitive advantage because they will know when that visitor is coming maybe 60-90 days out.
“And then do the things that would better prepare to welcome that visitor so we are identifying the target audience, that’s number one” he said.
