TourismToday

The Ministry of Tourism and Aviation is focused on helping tour operators generate more revenues while meeting the needs of cruise ships and passengers, Tourism Director General David Johnson told tour operators during a one-day workshop Tuesday.
The workshop, organized by the Ministry of Tourism and Aviation’s Cruise Department, was designed to assist tour operators with business plans and practices that would strengthen their operations and improve the overall Bahamas experience. The effort to increase business opportunities from the cruise sector has often been complex in The Bahamas but Mr. Johnson assured workshop participants that the Ministry of Tourism and Aviation’s intention is to improve revenue and hopefully profits for them and other small business operators.
“This whole area of tour excursion spend, it is a competition for that same dollar,” he said. “There needs to be a compromise arrived at. We need to think in terms of how we earn more but recognizing that unless the cruise companies are in a position where they can get a benefit, it is not going to happen.
“So we have to develop and design your tour product, your experiences in a way that it makes commercial sense for you but that the supplier who you are looking at to bring that business, that they see a return too. It then becomes a win-win situation.”
The Ministry is in meaningful discussions with cruise lines on how the interests of all industry players can be met. However, Mr. Johnson said his impression is that individuals and groups in The Bahamas still are not sufficiently focused on experiences that offer a person on an itinerary into Nassau something that compliments the other experiences they would have in other ports of call.
“We are the Caribbean’s leading water sports experience offer,” he said. “We have an abundance of that. We have less in terms of land-based experiences, and remember almost 60 percent of our visitors are coming on three and four-day cruises and many of them are repeat visitors.”
Mr. Johnson pointed out that there is a great opportunity to expand land-based tours so that visitors feel that they are getting a new experience. He also pointed out that businessmen can access several concessions that have been put in place through legislation. These include the new City of Nassau Revitalization Act, 2008 and the recent amendments to the Hotels Encouragement Act.