The attraction of European and Asian tourists to Bahamian shores is going to be a great asset in terms of retrenching The Bahamas as one of the top destinations in the Caribbean, according to a senior tourism official.

Vernice Walkine, the director general of tourism, told the Journal recently that much emphasis would be put on markets outside of the United States to help boost tourism statistics.

"We have the minister [of tourism] going to China in November for the first time in his capacity as minister," she said. "He’s going to Beijing and Shanghai, and the intent really is to have him meet with and speak to tour operators, airlines and the media to begin to stimulate that market for us."

The latest reports from the Ministry of Tourism, issued last week, show that travel to The Bahamas is at an all time low, having decreased significantly over the past year.

She said the issuance of visas for Chinese travelers has been of great assistance.

"The fact that we are now processing visas for the Chinese traveler in our embassy in Beijing is a huge leap forward," Ms. Walkine said. "That is what has been the biggest impediment to us, beginning our very aggressive push into the Chinese market so now that that’s happening things will change."

"We believe that our initial approach in China however, is going to have to be to [convince Chinese travelers] to consider The Bahamas in conjunction with a trip to the United States or to London or to Canada really just for convenience sake more than anything else."

The director general’s reasoning for this was because she said at present there is no non-stop or even one-stop air service out of China to The Bahamas.

"It takes a while to get here, so we believe that if they’re already thinking about going to the US, either on business or vacation, going to the UK, or likewise to Toronto, they have the opportunity after they’ve done their business or had their vacation to add The Bahamas on for an additional few days," Ms. Walkine said.

She added that the opening of the Bahamian embassy in China makes such tasks that much easier to undertake.

The director general also highlighted a new campaign expected to launch in the United Kingdom next month.

"We have launched the multi-media campaign in some respects but what we’re doing in Europe in particular in the UK is we are launching a new campaign in November. So I believe the timing works for us very nicely, because they’re having their own economic issues," she said.

"I think they too are waiting to see what happens with the US presidential election because that obviously will have an impact on what happens with the US economy and the degree to which the financial markets will be stabilized."

She said that this is a time when persons are beginning to appreciate how much of a global economy one operates in because European banks have been affected by what is going on with the US financial markets.

Tourism Minister Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace unveiled his much-awaited plan to revamp the country’s ailing tourism sector a few weeks ago, acknowledging that he and his colleagues are "sailing into a very stiff wind."

By Sasha L. Lightbourne

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