AYE! Bahamas – a mobile software application – is positioning itself to transform the local travel industry by making it easier for visitors to find their way around and access information on their smart device.

Executives of the Freeport-based company recently met with Harcourt Brown, permanent secretary in Grand Bahama’s Office of The Prime Minister (OPM) to deliver a progress report to the official and his team and gain essential feedback.

The meeting’s attendees included Leslie Gelin, managing partner at Aye Bahamas Travel Guide, investment officers Shamine Johnson and Felix Bowe Jr., Aye! Bahamas’ management partner Margaret Dieu and H. Forbes Charter Services’ office manager, Francine Robinson.

With tourists moving away from printed travel guides and paper maps, Aye! Bahamas Travel Guide is building its business model from the ground-up in hopes of becoming the number one go-to app for vacationers wanting to enhance their travel experience while here.

Although widely popular globally, travel apps, including this one designed specifically for navigation around The Bahamas, have huge untapped potential, creating a better experience and opening the possibility of new business models, according to Gelin.

“This is exciting,” said Brown, the first digital platform promoting a broad cross-section of tourism-associated businesses. It is available for download in mobile app stores for Apple and Android devices.

“The presentation was very informative and thought provoking,” said the permanent secretary, summing up the meeting. “We were very impressed by the obvious preparation and research that went into it and we are excited about the prospects emanating there from.”

As a virtual brochure, the app introduces vacationers to a multitude of options about where to stay, dine, what to see and do for those on holiday in The Bahamas.

In the coming months, developers intend to incorporate Google maps with ads using landmarks during navigation. They also intend to expand the six existing browsing categories – shopping, dining, entertainment, activities, accommodations and transportation – including financial services and native culture. The app also features public spaces, such as beaches, forts, parks and public museums.

Early on, Gelin and his team recognized roaming charges could deter visitors from utilizing the app, an observation that led the company to collaborate with Aliv offering short-term rentals of the telecommunication company’s portable Wi-Fi to-go devices, he told officials during the June 15, briefing.

“Aye! Bahamas is in the process of establishing a kiosk at Grand Bahama’s International Airport and exploring the possibility of one at the [Freeport] Harbour Company,” he reported. “Those locations would enable visitors to rent a physical device for $10.99 per day creating their own Wi-Fi hot spot allowing them to navigate freely.”

The app company said it has secured wall signage space at Freeport Harbour Company’s Terminal I and II, where cruise and ferry passengers traverse daily.

Meantime, the app’s marketing paraphernalia dots Freeport’s landscape, popping up at various hotels, restaurants and other places tourists frequent in Freeport including Pelican Bay Hotel, Castaways Resorts and Suites, Manta Ray restaurant, Sabor Restaurant and Bar and the island’s first adventure theme park, Pirate’s Cove Zip Line and Water Park.

In a bid to increase the app’s visibility, Aye! Bahamas has partnered with H. Forbes Charter, the largest transportation and tour company in Grand Bahama.

According to H. Forbes’ representative, Florene Robinson, the 33-strong fleet transports 1,500 tourists per day via its 10-seater limousines, busses and double-deckers. The company reportedly owns around 75 per cent of Freeport’s charter market. In a matter of weeks, Aye! Bahamas Travel Guide will brand several of those busses marketing both the app and the Wi-Fi devices.

Officially launched on May 15, the app had over 1,100 downloads in its first two weeks.

“Over 800 were active devices in The Bahamas using the app. What was striking about that was more than two-thirds downloaded in the US. Less than one-third downloaded in The Bahamas. We have a wider range than we originally thought,” Gelin told government officials.

“We believe persons considering The Bahamas as a vacation venue downloaded the app for research. Their decision may be based on what they see on the app. We can reach cruise ship passengers in the cabin to entice them to come off the ship. At present, we’re not getting the word out sufficiently on what there is to do in Grand Bahama.”

The app, said Mr. Brown, could play a vital role in The Bahamas’ marketing toolkit.

Aye Bahamas Travel Guide’s Leslie Gelin (right) met with government officials in the Office of The Prime Minister (OPM) in Grand Bahama on Friday, June 15, to discuss his new smartphone application (app) designed to heighten tourists and potential visitors’ awareness of where to stay, dine and what to see and do while visiting The Bahamas. From left to right, investment officer Shamine Johnson, permanent secretary Harcourt Brown, investment officer Felix Bowe Jr., Mr. Gelin, Aye! Bahamas management partner, Margaret Dieu and H. Forbes Charter Services’ Office Manager, Francine Robinson.