"We have gotten some very good news from France, in particular, with the possibility of Excel Airlines flying into Nassau beginning next winter. That’s going to be looking like a weekly flight, but all those details have to be finalized," said Ellison Thompson, deputy director general of the Ministry of Tourism.
In an interview with the Journal Wednesday, he noted that tourism officials also held "very good discussions" with First Choice – a summer charter flying out of Manchester.
"They will be conducting a fortnightly (every two weeks) charter next summer into Nassau," he said.
"We’ve also had meetings with British Airways who have indicated that forward bookings are very, very positive for The Bahamas. They are very pleased with bookings especially in the premium cabins – the seats in front of the aircraft."
According to Janice Antonson, vice president of marketing for the Nassau Airport Development (NAD) Company, the exhibition presented a prime opportunity to network with many countries under one roof.
"It’s a really good opportunity to meet with charter carriers that are looking at Nassau for the first time and they can also see the product of what we have to offer when they come to see us in the booth," she explained.
"I talked to a lot of interesting airlines that may in the future consider Nassau as one of their destinations."
Although Ms. Antonson declined to disclose specifics, she noted that the airlines she spoke with were based in the United Kingdom, Germany and Holland.
She said those destinations are NAD’s next "target areas" since Linding Pindling International Airport currently has only one carrier, British Airways, servicing the European market.
British Airways flies into London.
"We’d really like to see some extra service from Europe. A lot of them haven’t flown into this part of the world at all, into the Caribbean at all, so it’s a whole new destination for them," Ms. Antonson said.
"Some of them fly into the United States and are considering branching out and some of the carriers fly into say, Montego Bay and the Dominican Republic and they are looking at other destinations to put on their roster."
She noted that some airlines were also interested in how things are shaping up at Lynden Pindling International Airport.
The NAD official said many airline operators and tour companies know that it needs "a little bit of work."
"I was able to give a lot of interviews on the updating of the airport and the timeline of when we hope for it to be finished," Ms. Antonson said.
Mr. Thompson said it’s good business sense for the Bahamas to diversify its travel market.
"We have seen that Canada has been performing extremely well for us and with the currency being strong in Europe this is a good time for us to be in those particular markets," he advised.
"The dollar is quite weak against the pound and the Euro, so they would have more spending power in the islands of the Bahamas."
In terms of visitors’ stay, Americans stay an average of four days, Canadians around six to seven days and the Europeans 10 to 11 days, according to Mr. Thompson.
Tourism officials estimate that stopover visitors spend an average of $1,150 per visit.
"What you would find is if people are enjoying themselves and having a great time they don’t mind spending money once they are getting value for money," Mr. Thompson said.
"They are also more prone to go out to the other islands as well…and we want them to go from Nassau and experience Grand Bahama and the other islands."
