The Ministry of Tourism, Investments and Aviation is exploring linkages with Disney and Orlando’s tourism board to see how they can attract some of that city’s 75 million annual visitors, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism, Investments and Aviation Chester Cooper said following his ministry’s mission trip to the area.
Cooper said the idea is to entice visitors to Orlando to a two-for-one deal, where they also visit The Bahamas. He explained that this kind of linkage would be perfect for those travelers who originate in places like the Middle East, where they might want to maximize their stay after traveling thousands of miles and many hours.
“When it comes to Orlando, we recognize that this is one of the largest tourism hubs in the world,” said Cooper. Seventy-five million visitors visit Orlando intentionally. Of course they’re bolstered by Disney. We already have a relationship with Disney. We’re going to look to see how we can leverage this partnership. We’re going to see how we might convince many persons in our emerging markets to create joint destination vacations… maybe three days in Orlando, five days in The Bahamas or vice versa.
“Maybe persons who are taking a long flight from the Middle East, a market that we are nurturing, will find it prudent after taking a 15-hour flight from Saudi Arabia or Qatar, to visit The Bahamas while they visit Disney.
“So, we are going to work towards strengthening these types of linkages. We are very keen to continue the dialogue with Visit Orlando, with Disney and with others in the area to ensure we leverage the strength of our proximity and the strength of our product.”
The Ministry of Tourism, Investments and Aviation will travel to several markets across the world over the next several months in mission trips, to ensure it is understood what the country offers and that it is ready to accept people from across the world.
According to a Ministry of Tourism press statement, the series of events will continue in New York later this month with further stops in Atlanta, Georgia; Houston, Texas; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Los Angeles, California, followed by cities across Canada.
The recent Orlando visit was preceded by a mission in Miami, where tourism officials, including Cooper, visited an area of Miami known as Little Bahamas.
Cooper said following that visit that his ministry hopes to have a continued presence in the museum that extolls the history of the area.
“This is going to be a fantastic opportunity for Bahamas tourism,” he said.
“It’s going to be good for our culture and our heritage.
“We hope to be able to work along with them through the Ministry of Tourism, through the Bahamas consulate, to infuse many of the things that we do, many of the things that we are bringing to you through these missions in Florida.
“We hope ultimately that the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism will have a presence in this museum to be able to share the story of the islands of The Bahamas and the people of The Bahamas… the warmth of the people of The Bahamas and our culture.”
Tourism officials plan to meet with travel advisors, tourism stakeholders and media houses on each mission visit around the world.
