Demand for Grand Bahama's tourism product is growing at a "tremendous clip" as stopover visitors increased 39 percent for the first half of 2014, according to the national director of airlift.
Speaking with Guardian Business, Tyrone Sawyer said Grand Bahama tourism figures would likely continue on an upward trend into 2015 after Sunwing Airlines, an affiliate of Memories Resort, announced that it would launch nonstop flights from Vancouver and Calgary into Grand Bahama on November 1.
"Demand is growing at a tremendous clip. We've seen a 39 percent increase in air stopovers to Grand Bahama. That's very encouraging, and we see that Grand Bahama is on an upward trend," said Sawyer.
The new seasonal routes will likely run until the spring. In addition, Sawyer noted that the Ministry of Tourism is finalizing future nonstop routes from U.S. cities to Grand Bahama in an attempt to further boost tourism numbers in 2015.
"The Canadian market tends to taper off by April. There will be further announcements regarding flights from U.S. cities into Grand Bahama that will [commence] next spring and go through summer into the fall.
"We certainly will have the capacity that we need to meet the demand and fill the rooms we have in Grand Bahama," stated Sawyer.
However, Sawyer could not provide a figure for the projected increase in regional airlift as a result of the expanded partnership.
Until Sunwing begins flights on November 1, there are no direct flights from Canada into Grand Bahama following WestJet's decision to discontinue service into Grand Bahama in May.
WestJet cited a decline in the island's tourism product as the driving force behind the decision.
At present, Sunwing Airlines offers seasonal flights from Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg, Halifax, Ottawa and Edmonton, which are also expected to resume November 1.
In a press release issued by the Ministry of Tourism last week, Carmel Churchill, director of marketing services for Grand Bahama's Tourism Board, anticipated a 35 percent increase in air arrivals following Sunwing's two additional flights.
Churchill claimed that the partnership with Sunwing had already generated 25,000 visitors for the island.
The announcement follows similarly encouraging airlift figures released by the Ministry of Tourism this month.
A recent tourism report indicated that foreign air and sea arrivals to the Family Islands increased by 10 percent for the first half of 2014 compared to the same period in 2013.

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