The Minister of Tourism, Investment and Aviation, the Hon. Chester Cooper and other tourism officials toured downtown Nassau recently.
Acting Director General of Tourism, Latia Duncombe was a part of the touring delegation and forecasts positive travel numbers through February. “The last set of numbers I’ve seen we were 11% ahead of 2019 and they’ve also showcased that what’s been actually booked for the next three months still are above the 2019 numbers. So, obviously that’s confirmed bookings. Then you know there are last minute spontaneous travelers and so we have those as well. There’s the cruise ship, we’re seeing a lot of increase and interest from that segment as well.”
Minister Cooper gave his thoughts on the day’s activity. “Today I believe we have five ships in the harbour and almost 18,000 guests and its evident as we walk on Bay Street, we see that its bustling.”
Cooper also spoke to what is needed to improve the nation’s tourism product and says that government is taking the necessary steps. He met with Police and other tourism stakeholders. “We’re working together putting in place strategies to ensure less vagrancy, to ensure more law and order and I think that mere presence of police in the downtown area is important. The numbers have increased significantly.”
The minister also mentioned tourism efforts on the Family Islands noting that we are in ahead of 2019 in airlift for all destinations.
