Bird Tourism Officially Launched in The Bahamas

The Bahamas has added yet another exciting and dynamic reason for visitors to visit, bird tourism.

The program, a collaboration with The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, the Bahamas National Trust (BNT) and the National Audubon Society with funding by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), focused on training bird guides on Andros and Inagua.

Nine Bahamians from those islands graduated from the advanced birding program.

Randolph Burrows, Stephen Hanna, Tara Lindo, Vivian Moultrie, Samuel Nelson, David Neymour, Rinald Rolle, Latia Smith and Carlene Woods are now all Advanced Bird Guides.

“It is going to be a very lucrative business for you because the birds of The Bahamas are absolutely fantastic. What we want to do is gather a calendar of all of the birds that are coming in. Every month we will be out there promoting what you can see in the islands of The Bahamas. At the end of the day, the Ministry of Tourism will work with you to do promotion. It is your responsibility that the business is ticking over and that you are the face of The Bahamas,” said Ministry of Tourism Deputy Director General Ellison “Tommy” Thompson at the official launch of Bird Tourism on January 26 at the British Colonial Hilton.

Thompson added that while many visitors come to The Bahamas for sun, sand and sea, the country has a “unique product in terms of birding, fishing and boating”.

BNT President Lawrence Glinton noted that 49 residents completed the first phase of training.

“We in the BNT are committed to continue support for nature tourism and taking the bird tour guide training to other islands. We believe that people want more out of a vacation than just sun sand and sea. Birding offers an opportunity to learn more about The Bahamas, its geography, its history and various forms of wildlife,” Glinton said.

The BNT president said more than 500 students on Andros and Inagua were educated about birding and the environment.

Erika Gates, owner of Grand Bahama Nature Tours, helped train the advanced birders and encouraged them to excel.

“In a few weeks from March 10 to 13 I will be bringing a group of 14 paying birders from Grand Bahama to Inagua. They will be spending in excess of $10,000 to experience your guiding skills and expertise and to find their target birds. This is only over three and a half days. I am confident that you will meet the challenge,” she told the graduates, adding that she will do the same for Andros in two months.

Gates also promised the guides that if they passed their final exam her company would sponsor their first bird guide shirts with their respective logos of Inagua and Andros: a promise she delivered on.

Globally, birdwatching is a multibillion-dollar industry.

In the United States, $41 billion is spent on birdwatching and $500 million in the United Kingdom. Around 3 million people travel internationally for birdwatching experiences. Between 2005 to 2009, 20 million U.S. citizens took trips within the U.S. for birding experiences.