Las Vegas, Nevada, was the site of the 2017 Routes Americas conference, where airlines, airports and tourism planners recently congregated for non-stop meetings over a two-day period.
The Ministry of Tourism's Airlift Development Team and its industry partners brought the airlines up to date on new developments taking place in The Bahamas.
Airlines were particularly pleased to hear that Baha Mar will execute a "soft opening" on April 21, 2017.
Bryan Guillot, special marketing and airlift consultant for Baha Mar, was very clear in outlining Baha Mar's strategy: to open small amounts of guest rooms at the two-tower, 1,801 room Grand Hyatt Resort initially (followed by more rooms as they become available); the Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course, the 100,000-square-foot casino, the new convention center, myriad high-end branded stores and approximately 40 dining outlets.
The grand opening of the SLS Resort would follow these later in the year and then the Rosewood Resort (at a later date to be indicated).
"We will focus upon establishing a high service level before any focus is placed on promotion," said Guillot. This was very well accepted by airline partners.
Routes Americas 2017 also gave The Bahamas' team the opportunity to thank its long-standing airline partners for their strong support of the destination during a period of uncertainty.
The fact that the new rooms at Baha Mar would be coming on stream on a more staged basis would make it somewhat easier to add incremental seats to Nassau/Paradise Island to accommodate the increase in consumer demand.
In addition to Baha Mar, The Bahamas team was able to share some of the new and exciting developments unfolding throughout the destination. There was much interest in non-stop service from key hubs to Exuma, Eleuthera, Bimini, San Salvador and Abaco.
"We are very pleased about discussions surrounding the development of new airlift opportunities from Europe, and from markets closer afield, to the islands of The Bahamas," stated Tyrone Sawyer, senior director, airlift development at the Ministry of Tourism.
Routes Americas also provided the opportunity to tweak existing route development initiatives with airline partners. This would have included plans by airline Condor Flugdienst to begin a one flight per week service from Frankfurt, Germany to Nassau in November 2017.

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