Key stakeholders in the tourism industry in Grand Bahama have completed an assessment of the tourism landscape on the island and are ready to begin determining how to implement essential short and long term strategies.
Grand Bahama’s tourism product has been floundering over the last few years as the industry struggles to overcome internal and external challenges.
According to the Bahamas Hotel Association [BHA], hoteliers and other tourism-related business operators from Grand Bahama recently culminated nearly two months of research with a critical meeting.
Over twenty representatives of Grand Bahama BHA members gathered for a half-day retreat recently at Our Lucaya Resort to review the ongoing activities of the BHA and discuss the findings from a recent survey and interviews with Grand Bahama members, marina operators, the Ministry of Tourism and Aviation, the Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce and other stakeholders.
It provided the basis for a number of key Grand Bahama initiatives to be identified and plans are now underway to put them into priority and move forward on key ones, BHA officials said.
The island has sustained broad based tourism declines, as reflected in successive Central Bank of The Bahamas reports.
According to 2007 tourism statistics, overall visitor arrivals contracted by 2.9 percent over the previous year, based on reductions in both the air (0.4 percent) and sea (4.0 percent) categories. The weakness was broadly based across all major ports of entry, with Grand Bahama recording the most significant decline of 9 percent, the Family Islands, 4.1 percent, and New Providence, by 0.8 percent, the bank reported.
BHA President Russell Miller called the exercise that occurred recently in Grand Bahama a very important one.
"We have been able to assess the tourism landscape in Grand Bahama and with an eye to the future see how the Bahamas Hotel Association can play a support role in its development, with our members, the Ministry of Tourism and other key stakeholders," he said.
Last December, the BHA created the new position of Manager of Grand Bahama and the Northern Bahamas to enable it to more effectively support the existing and emerging needs of its members in these areas, particularly in the areas of product quality, improved standards, advocacy and the development of the hotel and marina sectors.
The position came about because of support from the Grand Bahama Island Tourism Board and the Inter-American Development Bank, through BHA’s sustainable tourism project.
At the planning retreat, members focused on key short and long term initiatives, officials said. The priority areas were workforce quality, customer service, building stronger training and education systems which support the development of quality workers and future entrepreneurs.
Obstacles to tourism growth were also identified, many of which are shared with BHA members throughout the Bahamas. The BHA said it will address these matters on a national scale and in some instances directly as they impact Grand Bahama.
"It is very clear to us that Grand Bahama has very specific and distinctive needs, versus those of other areas in The Bahamas," said Mr. Miller.
"At the same time, many of the needs and concerns of our Grand Bahama members are also being faced by our members nationwide. It was very useful for us to see where these points meet, as it will allow BHA to better leverage our national initiatives to the benefit of Grand Bahama."
The reinvigoration of the tourism industry in The Bahamas and the Caribbean region has become a critical concern. Earlier this month former Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe said the Bahamas tourism product is "ill and slipping into a coma" as he urged a collective responsibility to remake, resuscitate and renew it.
Also CHA President Peter Odle has warned the region to heed warnings that tourism in the region is stalling and fortify the industry.
"We at CHA also recognize the crucial importance of human resource development and, over the years through our own Caribbean Hotel Association Education Foundation (CHAEF), have awarded more than US$1 million in scholarships and grants to Caribbean nationals to enable them to advance their skills and become more productive members of the Caribbean community in their respective destinations," he said.
CARICOM Heads of Government recently agreed to devote one day to a special session on tourism during their 29th meeting set to take place July 3 - 5, 2008 in Antigua, and have also agreed that tourism would be included as a permanent item on the agenda of the Conference and on all CARICOM agendas in view of its importance to the economies of the region.
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