NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism Aviation and Investments Chester Cooper yesterday defended the work of his ministry in seeking to promote this nation’s brand while attracting more visitors and investors to the country.
His comments follow revelations that the government’s travel costs for the first three months of the 2022/2023 fiscal year are up by $2.3 million compared to the same period in the previous fiscal year.
The Ministry of Finance in its budgetary report for the first quarter of the fiscal year 2022/23, July to September, noted that the government spent $4.2 million on travel and subsistence, compared to $1.9 million in the same period in the previous fiscal year.
For this fiscal year, the Davis administration budgeted $14.9 million for travel and subsistence compared to $10.6 million.
Cooper noted that so far this year his ministry has conducted several missions abroad to spread the word that The Bahamas is open for business.
“We have 16 magnificent island destinations,” Cooper said.
“We have been locked down from COVID and we have been impacted by Dorian but we’re back. We’re coming back strong. We want to regain our market share. The tourists we need are the tourists who are abroad and to get them you have to go where they are.”
Cooper said: “We have just come back from the world travel market in London. We will go to the Middle East again because that’s fertile ground for very high net-worth clients.
“As it relates to investment and the tourism market we have to tell our own story and if we are attracting investors and tourists to The Bahamas, we have to go abroad.”
