D’Aguilar: Tourism initiating marketing “ramp up”, visitor projections difficult to gauge

D’Aguilar: Tourism initiating marketing “ramp up”, visitor projections difficult to gauge
Minister of Tourism and Aviation Dionisio D'Aguilar.

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The Ministry of Tourism is beginning to “ramp up” its online marketing campaign, according to Tourism Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar, who noted that it is difficult to gauge arrival projections at this time.

“We’re beginning to do some heavy online advertising. The largest source of tickets to The Bahamas is these online travel agencies. The most well-known one is Expedia. We are going to do some heavy advertising online then we will roll into the more traditional media avenues like television, radio billboard and the like,” D’Aguilar told Eyewitness News.

He added, “We just want to make sure we keep our cases under control and ensure there is some stability in the tourism sector. We were being somewhat cautious about marketing rollout but now that we are open and seem to be keeping a handle on numbers, we have been ramping up our advertising online and then in the new year we will go to more traditional media outlets.”

D’Aguilar noted the marketing efforts of major resorts like Baha Mar and Atlantis will help the destination as it seeks to bring about a rebound of the tourism sector.

“It’s really a big help that Baha Mar and Atlantis are coming on stream and doing their own marketing. The problem with this whole pandemic is most ways you can travel now allow cancellations and so there are significant last-minute bookings and significant last-minute cancellations. It’s very difficult to say what numbers we will realize. We just have to wait and see.”

D’Aguilar noted that there remains considerable optimism going forward given that a COVID-19 vaccine is being developed. In the meantime, however, D’Aguilar noted that the country will have to continue to enforce social distancing and other COVID-19 restrictions to curb the spread of the virus.

1 comments

No lockdowns, no curfews, open beaches, change test to 7 days before arrival and watch the reservations increase.

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