Tourism Minister: 12,000 visitors or more expected
NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The tourism sector continues to witness a post-COVID rebound with Nassau/ Paradise Island hotels reporting a “stronger” Thanksgiving holiday period this year, according to Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) president Robert ‘Sandy’ Sands.
While Thanksgiving is not an official holiday in The Bahamas, the period has traditionally been a busy one for local resorts, marked by higher occupancies.
Sands did not provide a year-over-year comparison in terms of occupancy levels.
Earlier this week, officials at the Nassau Airport Development Company (NAD) said that they anticipate between 25,000 – 35,000 passengers being processed through LPIA from today to Sunday, November 27.
Over the same period in November 2021, just under 23,000 passengers traveled during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, as last year’s numbers were 24 percent below the same period in 2019 where pre-pandemic figures for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend reached a record high of 30,192.
Airport officials are expressing cautious optimism for the holiday travel period which extends from Thanksgiving weekend to January 2, 2023.
Yesterday, Tourism, Aviation, and Investments Minister Chester Cooper said: “This is normally a very good time for tourism. We expect significant numbers. We have done fair well in the past during the Thanksgiving weekend maybe more.”
He added: “This is a time when the season is really kicking off in earnest. All of our hotel properties are reporting very high occupancies. We are excited about this weekend and we are excited about December.”
