By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The deputy prime minister yesterday admitted The Bahamas has failed "to maximise visitor spending", and retain more of this within its economy, despite a "booming" tourism industry whose numbers "have never been better".

Chester Cooper, also minister of tourism, investments and aviation, told the House of Assembly during his 2023-2024 Budget presentation that The Bahamas must better exploit its largest industry to "create ownership and wealth" among its citizens by empowering more to become entrepreneurs.

Pledging that the Tourism Development Corporation (TDC) will play a key role in fulfilling this objective, his concession that the economic impact from tourist spending is not necessarily filtering down to Bahamian society's grassroots came after he talked up the likelihood of this nation receiving a record eight million total visitors during the 2023 calendar year.

Focusing on what several analysts have termed 'the numbers game' in terms of visitor arrivals, as opposed to the impact of their spending, Mr Cooper said total tourist numbers for the four months to end-April 2023 were almost 30 percent ahead of The Bahamas' prior record year of 2019 which occurred immediately before the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Our tourism performance over this fiscal year continues to shatter pre-pandemic levels and further positions The Bahamas among the regional and global leaders in terms of overall tourism recovery," he asserted. "And we are just getting started. At the end of April 2023, overall air and sea arrivals surpassed 2022 levels by 79 percent and exceeded the banner 2019 numbers by 32 percent.

"Looking specifically at the numbers, between January to April 2022, we welcomed an overall 1.9m visitors. During that same period in 2019, we welcomed 2.7m visitors. During the same four-month period this year, we welcomed some 3.5m visitors with eight more months left.

"On this current trajectory, we fully expect to shatter the much-touted historic 2019 overall visitor arrivals numbers by the end of the third quarter and will conservatively welcome well over eight million visitors by the end of 2023."

Focusing on higher-yielding stopover visitors, Mr Cooper added: "Air stopover arrivals – heads in beds that stay longer and spend more – surpassed 2022 levels by 34 percent, and matched 2019 performance levels, pacing well ahead of overall global pre-pandemic recovery forecasts.

"At some point within this fiscal year, we saw most of our islands experiencing their most historic monthly foreign air arrivals. We are breaking records in Nassau/Paradise Island, South Andros, North Andros and the Berry Islands, Cat Cay, Cat Island, Eleuthera, Exuma and Long Island too.

"If we analyse the major islands that have not reached full recovery, we will see that after being shut down for over two years, San Salvador air stopovers have now returned to 92 percent of their 2019 levels and are expected to end this year, also experiencing record air arrivals," he added.

"Grand Bahama air stopovers surpassed 2022 levels by 70 percent and rebounded to over 80 percent of pre-pandemic levels. However, when we combine total air and sea arrivals into Grand Bahama, total visitor arrivals exceeded 2022 levels by 137 percent, and overall visitor arrivals have soared to 91 percent of 2019 pre-pandemic and Hurricane Dorian levels.

"Abaco air stopover arrivals have exceeded 2022 levels by 70 percent and recorded 75 percent of pre-pandemic and Hurricane Dorian airlift. However, when we look at Abaco’s overall air and sea arrivals, you will see that overall visitor arrivals surpassed 2022 figures by 72 percent and, at the end of April, Abaco’s overall visitor arrivals were at 99 percent of the 2019 figures..... In short, tourism is booming, and the numbers have never been better."

Mr Cooper later said "all metrics are up", including average daily room rates (ADRs); visitor length of stay and spend; tax revenues; and airlift. However, he acknowledged that The Bahamas must perform better in retaining a greater portion of visitor spend within its domestic economy so that more businesses and citizens benefit financially from the impact.

"While we are still growing tourism, we have not been able to maximise visitor spend in the local economy and keep more of the spend at home," the deputy prime minister said later in his presentation. "Again, jobs are good to have, but we also want to create ownership and wealth."

Speaking to the Tourism Development Corporation Bill, which is part of the legislative package accompanying the Budget, Mr Cooper said part of its role will also be to help Bahamians "break the glass ceiling" when it comes to ownership and management of resort properties.

"The Tourism Development Corporation will also create a registry for displaced Bahamian executives with significant tourism experience. Given the massive growth we are seeing we need all hands on deck," he added.

"We need more a focused approach to empowering Bahamians to break the proverbial glass ceiling and manage resorts, and this will be a go-to source for hotels and new investors to seek the skilled professionals they need inside The Bahamas. We are not doing a good enough job in advancing Bahamian professionals in tourism, and the registry and collaboration with stakeholders will hopefully address this vexing issue."

Mr Cooper also pledged to revisit the decision to cease the 'nothing to declare' line at Lynden Pindling International Airport, which now requires all Bahamians and returning residents to pass through Customs regardless of whether they have any dutiable items in their luggage.

"I have heard the complaints about the elimination of the 'Nothing to Declare' line at LPIA. It’s wreaking havoc on returning residents unnecessarily and I have asked the appropriate officials to revisit this decision," the deputy prime minister added.

Mr Cooper said the Ministry of Tourism is now exploring the use of artificial intelligence (AI) on its website, www.bahamas.com, to provide users with an enhanced experience. "We will also be using artificial intelligence to identify tourists who are most likely to plan and afford a trip to The Bahamas," he added.

"It will be used in strategic media efforts to engage travellers in key regions with tailored messaging and diverse channels. We believe this will improve our return on investment in advertising and give us meaningful and invaluable research on ideal markets. It will also help us to determine the best market for Bahamasair direct non-stop flights."