NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The Bahamas welcomed almost a million stopover visitors in 2021, based on preliminary data, in response to Deputy Prime Minister Chester Cooper.
Cooper, the minister of tourism, investments and aviation, told Parliament yesterday: “By the top of 2021, The Bahamas’ tourism arrivals month over month were approaching 2019 levels for the corresponding periods, with international air travel down just by five percent in December in comparison with December 2019.
“For the total 12 months 2021, The Bahamas welcomed almost a million stopover visitors, in response to our preliminary numbers.
“While that is below our variety of stopover arrivals for 2019, the worldwide average shows that stopover visitors were down greater than 72 percent worldwide, in response to the UNWTO (World Tourism Organization).”
Land reform
Cooper also touched on the problem of land reform, noting that it has been a “thorny issue”.
He noted that since coming to office, the Davis administration has appointed a land reform working group to look into the problem.
Referring to the problem of beach access, Cooper said: “We consider that Bahamians must have easy and simply identifiable access to beaches.
“Public beaches are our right.
“While we plan to work with developers for essentially the most favorable outcomes for his or her projects, Bahamians must not be sidelined and denied access to our beautiful beaches as our country develops.”
He also said he has asked governmental town councils to discover appropriate beach access across the islands well prematurely of development in those areas.
