The Bahamas Director General of Tourism, Joy Jibrilu, said the Bahamas are looking to welcome more tourists from Asia.
Air arrivals to the islands are up by some 15 percent, according to tourism officials, but Jibrilu said the destination wants to see that number grow even more.
“Travel from Asia is perhaps the highest from anywhere in the world,” she said. “Air Canada has come on board with us as well. We will also have meetings with top tier media to display a Destination Bahamas.”
The Director General recently traveled to Japan to market the islands and was among 11 CARICOM counterparts that were invited to speak with high-level tourism officials by the Japanese Government.
“The objective was to see how we could increase tourism between our two countries,” Jibrilu said. “It was recognized in Japan that the Caribbean is a desirable destination, but they know very little about us, and so this was such an incredible opportunity to showcase the Bahamas at its best.”
The Director General said selling the Bahamas is easy because “we have diversity, connectivity because you can fly to New York and straight to Japan and we have routes that make it feasible.”
The Bahamas Minister of Tourism and Aviation, Dionisio D’Aguilar, will be leading a team to China in a few days along with tourism stakeholders from such companies and organizations as Atlantis, Baha Mar, The Pointe, and the Out Islands Promotion Board.
