By FAY SIMMONS

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

ELEUTHERA ranks second only to New Providence by leading all Family Islands for airborne visitor arrivals in 2022, it was revealed yesterday.

Dr Kenneth Romer, the Ministry of Tourism, Investments and Aviation’s deputy director-general, and director of aviation, said: “We have seen record breaking numbers at the end of 2022. When it comes to your overall numbers for foreign air arrivals, Eleuthera now ranks second behind Nassau/Paradise Island.

“But, for overall 2022 performance, Eleuthera actually edged out all of the Family Islands. So I do think when we look at the the opportunities for investment, it’s going to speak about the confidence investors have and touristic development in Eleuthera. Eleuthera has been doing exceptionally well.

“Eleuthera is targeted now for the development of three airports. We have been speaking just over the past month with airlines; foreign airlines who are going to be increasing airlift into Eleuthera. We have been advocating significantly again for foreign air arrivals. We do know that Eleuthera’s growth is constrained by capacity. So airlines want to come to Eleuthera, [but] they’re speaking about the product deficiencies.

“They’re speaking about available capacity for additional room inventory. They’re looking at the state of the airports - North Eleuthera, Rock Sound and Governor’s Harbour. Those three airports are actually targeted for aggressive development. So we will speak about what the development template looks like. We might be able to present some concepts for airside and land side development.”

The new developments are a part of what Dr Romer refers to as the “resurrection and renaissance” of Eleuthera, which he is hopeful will attract new investors and entrepreneurs.

He will address this at the upcoming Eleuthera Business Outlook conference, and said: “I wouldn’t say Christmas is going to come early, but we’re going to call it Easter is going to come late. We’re going to speak about the resurrection and the renaissance of Eleuthera.

“And, of course, we’re going to engage with our critical stakeholders, our product partners. We’ll speak about some innovations for product. And we are really going to support the transformation and the renaissance of the Eleuthera community.

“We’re looking at the big picture. We’re going to give Eleuthera the renaissance that it needs, and it’s going to cause there to be, I believe, new entrepreneurs, new land owners, new property owners, and we’re going to support them again as a tourism, investments and aviation family.”

Dr Romer also suggested vacation rentals as a solution to the hotel room inventory shortages that the island will eventually face as visitor arrivals numbers continue to rise. He indicated that the planned registry of vacation rental properties will ensure that units offered to guests are legitimate.

“The consensus with our international partners is that growth is constrained with capacity,” Dr Romer said, “whether we look at the airline capacity or seat capacity, which we’re dealing with. So, on the one hand, we are strongly encouraging and advocating for additional airlift into Eleuthera, both for domestic and international tourism.

“I think there has to be innovation as it relates to product. Certainly second homes. Airbnbs have to feature prominently into discussions as it relates to supplementing your traditional hotel room inventory. I’m sure Minister [Clay] Sweeting will speak about the move to have the Airbnbs registered, so that we can know that these are legitimate places where visitors - domestic and international visitors - can stay.

“It’s going to really encourage entrepreneurs. It’s going to create, I believe, a boom when it comes to ownership of smaller properties of Airbnb to supplement the major initiatives and building that’s taking place in Eleuthera.”

At a recent aviation conference in Chicago, Dr Romer said it emerged that many legacy and smaller carriers are interested in flying to Eleuthera. He has also been in discussions with cruise lines about local products, sustainable tourism and outreach programmes for the local communities.

He added: “You’re going to find legacy carriers, like your American Airlines, like Delta, are eyeing Eleuthera. You’ll find the smaller carriers like a Silver, which has inter-line agreements with other large carriers, are all speaking about Eleuthera. During the airlift conference, Eleuthera was a hot topic. Airlines are saying we want to do more business in Eleuthera. But, again, this is constrained by capacity.

“We did meet with our cruise lines at Seatrade last week, including Disney. We started back with the senior leadership, including the vice-president of government affairs at Carnival, and the whole discussion really centred around how is it that we can engage more local entrepreneurs and stakeholders.

“So we did have discussions about authentic products. We did speak to the environmental impact. We did speak about the promotion of a more sustainable tourism model. We did speak about with our cruise line partners about how they could do more and give back to our communities.”

Dr Romer discussed plans for the 14 upgraded Family Island airports, highlighting that they will be designed with sustainability and resilience against natural disasters. The maintenance of the airports will be facilitated through private-public partnerships (PPP).

He said: “So these are an additional 14 airports. The investment model is for the design, the building, the financing, operating and the maintaining of these airports. So you will be pleased that, in our design model, we are speaking about resilience. The reality is that we are in what persons referred to as a hurricane zone. And so when we look at the design of our airports, you’re going to find there going to be some innovations around designs.

“There’s going to be best practices when it comes to sustainable airports, that we now reduce our carbon footprint, but also the design has to speak about resilience. How can they withstand a Category Five hurricane? And how is it that they can be better maintained?

“So I’m certain that when we are able to announce the private partners through our PPP model, that we are looking for partners who are going to be able to maintain these airports, who are going to help manage them. And at the end of the day, how can these airports become commercially viable entities to support the development and growth of many Family Islands, Eleuthera being one of them, three among the 14.”