The Bahamas Reached 7-Million-Visitor Milestone in 2019

By Verónica de Santiago

The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism & Aviation has exceeded a record-breaking seven million visitors in 2019.  The Ministry attributes this historic success to data-driven, agile marketing, authentic storytelling, and aggressive PR, sales and airlift strategies.

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.

“It is with great pride and pleasure that I report The Bahamas’ strongest tourism numbers in history,” said Minister of Tourism & Aviation, Dionisio D’Aguilar. “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.”

“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.

Record-Breaking Arrivals

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% increase in just 10 years.

According to the Department of Immigration, Port Authority and Customs, 2019 was a record-breaking year for The Bahamas, with 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% increase from 2018. Stopover visitors alone were the highest in recorded history at 1.78 million with American visitors accounting for 1.45 million.

Increase in Airlift

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.

United Airlines has added Saturday-only non-stop service from Denver to Nassau. The service begins March 7, 2020 in time for the peak spring travel season and continues through August 15, 2020.

Beginning March 29, 2020, British Airways will operate non-stop service between London Heathrow and Nassau every Tuesday.

British Airways will now offer non-stop service between London and Nassau Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Delta Airlines has also expanded its airlift to Nassau this winter.

Beginning December 21, 2019, the airline introduced daily nonstop flights from Boston Logan Airport to Nassau’s Lynden Pindling International Airport. Flights will run through April 30, 2020.

Source: South Florida Caribbean News