By FAY SIMMONS

Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

A senior tourism executive yesterday asserted that high airline ticket prices have prevented The Bahamas from fully capitalising on its proximity to the US as its main tourism source market.

Kerry Fountain, the Bahamas Out Island Promotion Board’s executive director, speaking at the Routes Americas conference, said the high taxes imposed on airline tickets can be offset by the funds visitors spend while traversing the country. And the number of stopover visitors can be increased if ticket taxes were reduced.

“Every time we start off with a business plan, a tourism business plan or tourism marketing plan for The Bahamas, and we’re doing a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis, and we talk about the strengths of The Bahamas, we always start off with proximity. Bimini is 52 miles away from South Florida. But what we failed to do is to convert our proximity into affordability, and that is due to taxes,” said Mr Fountain.

“One of the things that we really need to take a look at is how do we reduce the cost of getting to The Bahamas by reducing the taxes? We have to know this: That if you reduce the cost of getting to the destination, the gates are going to get a little bit wider, and then you collect whatever it is that you need to collect on what the visitor consumes in the destination.”

Mr Fountain said stopover visitors spend about $2,800 per stay, and increasing their numbers could cover the revenue lost through a tax reduction. “If it’s more affordable to get to the destination, you’re going to attract more people even if it’s a bit further away. In our case, because we’re close, we have to be more affordable,” he added.

“Whatever it is that you’re giving up with the airline taxes, you’re increasing the number of air stopovers that are spending, on average, $2,800 per stay. So you’re increasing the number of air stopovers and therefore you’re making up the loss that you may have experienced with your airline taxes.”

Mr Fountain said in addition to making the destination more affordable, effort must also be put into making Family Island travel more accessible.

He explained that many visitors wish to travel to Family Islands immediately upon entrance to the Bahamas through Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA), but are often forced to overnight in New Providence due to a lack of connecting flights. The Routes Americas conference is an opportunity for aviation and tourism executives to meet with carriers and discuss possible interline agreements.

“One of the things that we’re trying to work on, in addition to talking to some of the foreign air carriers, we’re also talking to Bahamasair. Case in point, we had a meeting earlier this morning with British Airways and Bahamasair,” Mr Fountain said. 

“British Airways flies directly to Nassau from Heathrow. What we want to make sure is, once a British Airways flight gets in here, Bahamasair has a flight that would connect to some of the islands. They’re not going to connect to all, but at least the main ones, to Abaco, to Grand Bahama, to Exuma, and make sure that the flights that Bahamasair has going out allows same day connections and they allow same day connections when I leave and I’m coming back to Nassau. I’m able to jump back on that night flight and go back to London.”

Mr Fountain added that, during the meetings with legacy carriers, they also advised of future developments and airport upgrades in The Bahamas.

“It gives us the opportunity to speak to American Airlines, Delta Airlines, about the opportunities that we see coming down the turnpike in terms of servicing that destination. It’s not going to happen six months from now, it’s not going to happen a year from now, but we have to start planting the seed now,” said Mr Fountain.

“I always say for us our aim is when they cut the ribbon at Rock Sound Airport, 15 minutes after we want to be cutting the ribbon for an American Airlines flight coming into Rock Sound. That is the purpose of me being here, really identifying what are the opportunities for each island, for each airport, and who is the right airline partner to solicit service coming into that island.”

 

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