By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Opposition’s finance spokesman yesterday urged the Government to “bypass the bureaucracy” and speed-up approved hotel projects amid fears a room shortage is contributing to the stopover visitor decrease.

Kwasi Thompson, also the east Grand Bahama MP, told Tribune Business that his party is “very concerned” at the near-4 percent drop in stopover tourists during the 2025 first quarter given that they represent “the lifeblood” of this nation’s largest industry. 

Hinting that the Opposition will seek to call out the Government’s plan “to bolster stopover arrivals” during the House of Assembly’s next sitting, he argued that its agencies must create a ‘one-stop shop’ to ensure that hotel developments move more swiftly from approval to actual construction and thus reduce the room inventory shortage frequently cited by Chester Cooper, the deputy prime minister and tourism minister.

“We had raised this issue some time ago,” Mr Thompson told this newspaper. “We in the Opposition are very concerned by the decrease in stopover visitors. Obviously, this was pointed out by the Central Bank governor in his report. We had already known stopover visitors are decreasing, and they are the lifeblood.

“They are the most valuable of tourists we have in The Bahamas, and so we are very concerned by that. We are very concerned by what seems to be an overall decrease in arrivals to Grand Bahama. I think it was close to an overall 27 percent drop in overall arrivals.

“We are very concerned by both of those points, and we are hoping to hear what the Government’s strategic plan is to bolster stopover arrivals because again, that is the most valuable of our passengers. We are hoping to hear what the strategy is in terms of how we’re going to increase those overall numbers.”

Stopover visitors are greatly prized by the Bahamian tourism industry because, on average, they spend 28 times’ more and stay far longer than their cruise counterparts. While the latter are The Bahamas’ volume tourism business, stopover visitors have by far the greater economic impact in terms of the jobs and activity they support.

CIBC, in its April 2025 Caribbean market overview, ranked The Bahamas’ 4 percent stopover visitor contraction during the first two months of 2025 as placing this nation among the lowest tourism performers in the region. Only Grenada was faring worse during January and February, with most other islands showing marginal growth in this category.

Mr Cooper has frequently suggested that stopover tourism growth is being hindered by a lack of hotel room inventory, with supply insufficient to meet demand for the destination. He has repeatedly suggested that The Bahamas needs to double existing room capacity by 15,000 in the foreseeable future.

However, Mr Thompson argued that the Government must get approved resort projects into their development stage much more quickly. And, to achieve this, he argued that all necessary approvals - ranging from Investment Board permits to Ministry of Works and planning permissions, plus Business Licences - must be managed and administered digitally via a single online portal rather than via multiple agencies.

Such thinking is not new, but the east Grand Bahama MP said: “Let’s unpick what the deputy prime minister said. If the issue is having sufficient hotels and developments to accommodate persons, what are we doing to increase the number of hotel developments whether they are large or small?

“We have approved quite a lot of hotel developments. The issue is a delay between approval and actually starting up a development. We have done nothing to decrease the bureaucracy, and the delay between the approval and actually getting started in business. 

“If stopover visitors are decreasing because there are not enough hotel rooms, and we have these approvals, shouldn’t we be finding a way to fast track and bypass the bureaucracy to get these developments started so we can attempt to these arrivals? This has been a challenge for our government for many years, and is one of the issues the FNM will tackle.”

Latia Duncombe, the Ministry of Tourism’s director-general, yesterday said tourist arrival numbers were “stable” despite the decrease in air arrivals and stop over visitors

Speaking at the Office of the Prime Minister’s weekly press briefing, she said The Bahamas received 3.3m visitors during the 2025 first quarter, representing a 9 percent increase over the same period in 2024. This was mainly due to an 11.5 percent increase in cruise passengers. Airlift for January to March saw a 3 percent decrease when compared to 2024, and stop over visitors saw a 4 percent decline for the same period.

“January to March 2025, The Bahamas welcomed 3.3m visitors to the islands of The Bahamas, a 9 percent increase over the same period in 2024. Cruise arrivals totaled 2.8m, up 11.5 percent over the same period,” said Mrs Duncombe.

“Year-to-date, air arrivals totaled 487,000, reflecting a 3 percent shortfall compared to last year. However, air arrivals in Grand Bahama, Abaco, Bimini and Eleuthera exceeded 2024’s performance. Growth is being realised across our Family Islands. Stopover visitors totalled 512,000, representing a 4 percent shortfall compared to the same period in 2024.”

Mrs Duncombe said the Ministry of Tourism expects the numbers to improve during the 2025 second and third quarters, despite the Trump tariff challenges, and said there are opportunities to collaborate with other markets to increase traffic to the country.

“There are a number of factors that can be attributed to the visitor arrivals. And I think that the first thing that we look at is uncertainty from a geopolitical perspective. There’s been some shifts. What I’m really excited about is that the impact has only been 4 percent from the stopover perspective,” said Mrs Duncombe.

“Amidst the uncertainty, there’s also opportunities. Because of our strong global relationships, it makes The Bahamas very attractive for the US market, the Canadian market, the European market, the Latin American market, and so we’ve doubled down.”

Mrs Duncombe added that while some visitors have opted not to travel due to the economic uncertainty, others are looking for alternative travel destinations, which presents an opportunity to market the destination to non-US visitors.

“Some visitors have opted not to travel. Some visitors have also opted to redirect where they travel, and that for us is where the huge opportunity comes in. So with that shift, they’re now looking at The Bahamas more and more,” said Mrs Duncombe.

“So yes, there is the impact by those directly affected, and they may not be able to travel as much as they would like to at the moment, but the opportunity ahead of us is what we find so positive and so amazing, and we’re working towards delivering on the experience and being in front of the audiences that are prepared to travel at this time.”

Mrs Duncombe said that while booking windows have “shortened”, the demand for The Bahamas remains strong.

“What we’re seeing is that booking windows have shortened, and so we’re not moving forward with the same level of certainty because of the shift that we’re seeing, but we all agree that the demand for the destination is still strong, and that’s why a cohesive effort is so important as we move forward,” said Mrs Duncombe.

She added that The Bahamas will continue its “steady course forward” despite global shifts, and the tourism outlook is positive. “Tourism is directly impacted by global shifts, rising costs, geopolitical tensions and evolving economic policies,” Mrs Duncombe said.

“But instead of retreating, we’re leaning in. The demand for The Bahamas remains high, and our destination continues to resonate with travellers across the globe. While the international landscape remains uncertain, The Bahamas is charting a steady course forward. Our performance is stable and the outlook is positive.”