September and October were underperforming months in regard to tourism visits, Minister of Tourism, Investments and Aviation Chester Cooper said yesterday, though he said the forward-looking numbers leading into the end of the year could still put the country on a path to break last year’s visitor records.
He said the typical slow period that usually occurs around September and October was exacerbated by Hurricane Milton, which struck the country’s biggest source market for visitors, Florida; and Hurricane Oscar, which disrupted some travel to the southern Bahamas.
“The forecast still is that we will beat the record from last year,” said Cooper.
“We had some bumps in the road during the months of September and October. Specifically, we had Milton that impacted Georgia, and we had Oscar recently that would have interrupted some flow of traffic through The Bahamas.
“Milton also impacted, in a very serious way, central Florida. Florida is our core market. We are still assessing the overall impact.
“We are offering our support in these markets that are so important to us. Once things settle down and people are back on their feet, we know that they will travel again, and the proximity of The Bahamas is a blessing.”
According to Cooper, travelers have shortened their booking windows, meaning they have become a little more impulsive in buying their travel.
Shortened booking windows also lessens the amount of insight tourism officials have on future travel.
However, Cooper said the country continues to have strong airlift across the Eastern Seaboard of the US, and he is confident people will begin to travel as the busy winter season kicks into high gear.
“We’re very strong with direct non-stop service from more than 25 cities across North America,” he said.
“And we expect all of these pieces together are going to help us to end the year strong.
“We’re expecting a very strong November and December, and we consider September and October a wash, really. But, we’re we’re coming back strong. I’m sure right after the hurricane season.”
He added that the ministry continues to work on airlift from emerging markets, including the Middle East, South and Central America and Africa.
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