After visiting Grand Bahama for the past 18 years, American couple Glynn and Stacy Watkins from Macon, Georgia, now consider themselves "family."

In Grand Bahama recently for their annual visit, the couple, as usual, were with their original People-to-People Programme hostess Shirley Morris. They originally connected as Ms. Morris is a retired teacher, Glynn, an adopted P.E. teacher for Academy for the Blind, and Stacy a Speech Language Pathologist.

Said Mrs. Watkins: "We have been travelling to The Bahamas for 18 years. My husband Glynn researched People-to-People and the organization paired us with Ms. Shirley Morris.  Since meeting Ms. Shirley," she continued, "we have been able to experience and learn about the culture."

Making a point of experiencing what Grand Bahama has to offer -- whenever the Watkins visit, explains Ms. Morris, they go to Goombay Summer Festival, Bootle Bay, West End for conch salad, or wherever Bahamian culture is on full display. While in Bootle Bay on Friday, July 8, they attended the Rake N Scrape Family Fun Fest at the Pink Pearl Restaurant.

The couple who stay at a hotel for the duration of their visit are no strangers to the home of Ms. Morris because they must have a home-cooked meal: some of their favourites are crab and rice and fried fish.

The Watkins love The Bahamas so much, they visited twice in 2015; and although Ms. Morris has not visited them in Georgia yet, she says that is on her agenda for this year.

The Ministry of Tourism's People-to-People Programme is still bringing visitors and Bahamians together, like Macon, Georgia residents Glynn and Stacy Watkins, who have been visiting Grand Bahama for the past 18 years and Grand Bahama resident Ms. Shirley Morris. Shown are Mr. and Mrs. Watkins with Ms. Morris at the Rake and Scrape Family Fun Fest at the Pink Pearl Restaurant and Bar in Bootle Bay on Friday, July 8, 2016. (BIS Photo/Vandyke Hepburn)

The People-to-People programme is a community-involvement venture sponsored by the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism to give visitors to The Bahamas a unique opportunity to see life as a Bahamians live it. The designers of the concept match oversees guests to Bahamian hosts primarily by occupational, leisure or religious interests.

People-to-People ambassadors agree to act as personal hosts to visitors to the Islands of The Bahamas. They come from a cross-section of the community and have been vetted by the People-to-People executives. These individuals are not employed by the Ministry of Tourism. The ambassadors are persons who enjoy meeting people from other countries: they want to make them feel at home and to contribute to the development of tourism.

By Robyn Adderley, Bahamas Information Services