NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Total air arrivals to The Bahamas reached just over 94 percent of the pre-pandemic high recorded in 2019 according to recent data released by the Central Bank, with the regulator revealing that total visitor arrivals for that month rose to 0.8 million.
According to the regulator’s Monthly Economic and Financial Developments report for May, the monthly data suggested that the country’s tourism sector continued to register healthy growth, as increased demand for travel in key source markets contributed to higher growth in both the high value-added air segment and sea traffic.
Official data provided by the Ministry of Tourism (MOT) showed that total visitor arrivals rose to 0.8 million in May, from 0.5 million visitors in the same month of 2022.
Arrivals by sea grew to 0.6 million, from 0.4 million passengers in the prior year. In addition, air traffic stabilized at 0.1 million—representing 94.2 percent of the pre-pandemic high that was recorded in 2019.
“A breakdown by major port of entry showed that total arrivals to New Providence expanded to 0.3 million, from 0.2 million a year earlier. Supporting this outcome, the sea segment increased to 0.2 million from 0.1 million in the preceding year, while air traffic steadied at 0.1 million visitors. Further, foreign arrivals to the Family Islands amounted to 0.4 million and 34,410, respectively. In addition, arrivals to Grand Bahama measured 42,710, surpassing the 24,990 registered in the corresponding period of 2022, as respective sea and air visitors amounted to 38,572 and 4,138,” the Central Bank noted.
On a year-to-date basis, total arrivals rebounded to 4.2 million, vis-à-vis 2.5 million in the comparative period of 2022. Underlying this outturn, air arrivals increased to 0.8 million passengers, from 0.6 million in the previous year, bolstered by growth across all major source markets.
According to the Central Bank, positive trends were also reported in the short-term vacation rental market. The latest data provided by AirDNA showed that in May, total room nights sold moved higher to 189,398, from 136,311 in 2022.
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