In the coming year the Ministry of Tourism is set to undertake a "complete restructuring of domestic air transportation" that will "diversify tourism in a very meaningful way", according to the director general of tourism.
After some setbacks, David Johnson said that the ministry will this year ensure that flights offered by domestic airlines in The Bahamas are visible to international visitors on global distribution systems (GDS).
The move will enable these airlines to tap into the preference among travelers, particularly those in the U.S., to book their travel online, and in particular via websites such as Expedia.com, Orbitz, or Priceline.com, that centralize a large variety of travel-related products and services, rather than relying on visitors going to individual airlines' websites to find and book their intra-Bahamas flights.
"We are taking a very bold initiative to completely restructure the internal air transportation system, to enable visitors globally to see flights. It is a very, very definitive and strong way to build tourism in the Family Islands, and in so doing to diversify our tourism in a very meaningful way."
Johnson said the Ministry of Tourism views the achievement of this goal as a critical step towards channeling more tourists into the Family Islands and spreading them more evenly, rather than having the majority of visitors based in Nassau and Grand Bahama.
"Some of our jewels are in the Family Islands, and they are suffering from a lack of ability for customers to find them."
"We want to get those flights (offered by airlines such as Sky Bahamas, Western Air, Pineapple Air, etc) on GDS so larger sellers of travel can access and sell them. Today they can't. It's very doable and the investment can pay hundred-fold dividends," said Johnson.
The director general mentioned this as one initiative which should help to turn around the declining tourism growth seen in 2013. The Central Bank of The Bahamas reported in its October Monthly Economic and Financial Developments report that hotel properties had suffered an eight percent decline in revenue in the nine months leading up to October, primarily due to a fall off in air arrivals.
Admitting that getting domestic flights to show up in GDS is not a new idea within the Ministry of Tourism, Johnson said that this time around the ministry is "attempting to do it in a different way".
"We're taking the approach of not having it volunteered; we intend to joint venture with those responsible to ensure it happens in a timely way. It's a must do for us," he said.

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian