Tourism Director General Heads Bahamas Participation in World Routes Conference

The Islands of The Bahamas were well represented at this year’s World Routes Conference in Barcelona, Spain wherenumerous international airlines, tourism professionals and airport operators from around the world gathered to discuss the industry. Bahamas Ministry of Tourism and Aviation’s Director General, Joy Jibrilu, led the Bahamas Team.

World Routes took the form of almost-nonstop twenty-minute sessions from 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. over a three-day period.  The objective for each tourism ministry or airport was the same, to build upon relationships with existing airline partners, and to attract new airline partners to their respective destinations.   

“I found World Routes to be very fruitful,” Mrs. Jibrilu said.  “Our meeting schedule was full over the three-day period.  We took the opportunity to meet with our longstanding partners to review existing flights, to implement strategies to improve flight performance where needed, and to identify new route development opportunities.”

The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism and Aviation also sought out Interline opportunities with inter-continental airlines on behalf of Bahamasair.  This would better position Bahamasair as a tool of tourism development.  In the first instance, European visitors would arrive by way of a Bahamasair connection from Miami to Nassau.  This would help to determine whether demand exists for a nonstop inter-continental flight.   

“Our strategy is to ensure that there is a good balance of seats to all of The Islands Of The Bahamas; and the ability to meet with so many partners in one spot helped us to pursue our strategy more effectively,” Mrs. Jibrilu said.

Bahamas Tourism officials were able to meet with new airlines to discuss new route development opportunities to Nassau/Paradise Island, Grand Bahama and the Family Islands.  One such opportunity is the new seasonal CONDOR nonstop flight once per week from Frankfurt to Nassau, slated to start in November, 2017.  Another such opportunity is Alpine Air, which provides seasonal charter flights from Milan to Grand Bahama Island.  Yet another is the Air Carraibes flight from Paris to San Salvador into the Club Med Columbus Isles Resort.