By FAY SIMMONS

Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

The Ministry of Tourism is conducting a series of regional sales and marketing missions in Florida - with Deputy Prime Minister Chester Cooper saying the goal is to increase the amount of stopover visitors.

Mr Cooper said the majority of guests to The Bahamas travelled from or through Florida, making it an important tourism market.

“Last year, we attracted a total of 11.2 m visitors to our shores, and many of them come from Florida or came through Florida. Therefore, it’s important for us to ensure that our partners in Florida understand the possibilities of the connectivity,” said Mr Cooper.

“We have a large cruise market, and therefore we are also focusing on increasing our stop over guests. You may already know that our cruise business has grown some 65 percent between 2024 and 2019 our stopover businesses is holding its own.

“Which means that we want our guests to know of new developments in the Bahamas, new places where they can stay, new islands that they may not have visited, not new islands, but new to them. We don’t want it to be new to them. We want them to come and island hop around the islands of the Bahamas. And this is why we’re doing this mission.”

Mr Cooper said the booking window has shortened for many travellers and the Bahamas has a “competitive edge” on other destinations due to proximity.

“When we find uncertainty in the world, people like to go where they are comfortable, where it’s easy to access. And what we are seeing is that people are booking more impulsively. Now the booking windows have generally shortened,” said Mr Cooper.

“What this means is that people are making decisions on the fly, and it’s good to be able to take a 25 minute flight after you’ve made that decision.”

Director General Latia Duncombe said stopover visitors “do not just appear in the destination”, rather it takes targeted marketing and engagement with all stakeholders to drive traffic to the destination.

“The US represents north of 80 percent of our stopover business to the destination, and the state of Florida is the most significant when we look at the delivery of business,” said Ms Duncombe.

“We are reminding them about the islands of The Bahamas, showing them what’s new, and making sure that they’re aware there’s a lifetime of opportunities, a lifetime of experiences, and certainly a lifetime of islands in The Bahamas.”

She said there has been a rebound of visitors from Florida and over 1,500 stakeholders will be present during the Florida Global Trade Mission.

“From a stakeholder perspective, there are about 1,520 stakeholders. The airline partners, the hotel partners, they’re all here. Nassau Paradise Island promotion board will be here as well. The Out Island Promotion Board will be here as well. So all of the stakeholders will be represented,” said Ms Duncombe.

“This is very important market, and we could never promote the destination enough in this market. And we’ve seen the return, we’ve seen the interest, we’ve seen the results, and certainly we are going to give them a taste of the destination, whet the appetite, and then they’re going to come over and visit.”