THE BAHAMAS ANNOUNCES MAJOR GROWTH IN VISITOR ARRIVAL NUMBERS

NASSAU, Bahamas, Oct. 2023 – In The Bahamas,  Ministry of Tourism, Investments & Aviation  announced tourism numbers  have outpaced projections for the first seven months of 2023, recording more than 5.89 million arrivals from January through the end of July.  www.bahamas.com/ Current tourism performance puts the country well on the way to closing out the year at 8 million plus visitors.   Of the 5,893,118 total visitors who came to  The Bahamas in the first seven months of the year, 1,133,494 arrived by air and 4,759,624 by sea. July year-to-date overall arrivals are pacing 59 percent ahead of 2022 and 30 percent ahead of 2019, the busiest year on record.

Comparing 2023 overall arrivals by month, March arrivals peaked at 951,311, making it the busiest arrivals month in our history. To contextualize how significant the gains were in the first seven months of 2023, during the entirety of 2022, 1,470,244 visitors came to our shores by air; another 5,530,462 visitors arrived by sea. Major large New Providence hotels experienced increased occupancy and length of stay rates for 2023, eclipsing corresponding periods for 2019 and 2022.  The Hon. I. Chester Cooper, Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) and Minister of Tourism, Investments & Aviation said, “The stronger than expected results speak to vibrancy of The Bahamas’ brand, methodical business strategies and the hard work of tourism industry professionals and stakeholders.”