NASSAU, The Bahamas – For the first time in The Bahamas’ history, visitor expenditure has exceeded $2 Billion, in 2005, making that year a “significant” new benchmark for future industry growth, Director-General of Tourism Vernice Walkine told Bahamas Business Outlook 2007 on Tuesday.
“2005 was especially significant for The Bahamas because, in that year, real GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth is estimated to have been 2.73 percent, the strongest in five years,” Ms. Walkine said.
“Moreover, the corresponding per capita GDP estimate in 2005 was $18,051 which, incidentally, was the first time the $18,000 threshold for that statistic was crossed.
“Year-to-date estimates through November 2006 suggest another strong year, with both arrivals and expenditure estimates in line with expectations.”
She added that projections for 2007 are expected to be even stronger with tourism growth and tourism investments driving forecasted real economic growth in the range of 3 percent – 4 percent.
She believes The Bahamas has yet to fully exploit this industry to the fullest extent possible, and for the most part the country has basically taken only what the industry has given it.
“Tourism, from the perspective of the ordinary Bahamian is primarily an economic development tool,” she said. “Many other nations will have larger numbers of visitors because they have much larger populations to service those visitors.
“Many nations will have larger volumes of visitor spending because they have much larger numbers of visitors.
“But there are few nations that have a larger visitor-spend per capita than The Bahamas.”
Figures for 2005 show that the approximately $6,600 spent by visitors for every Bahamian “is one of the highest anywhere in the world.”
“That is the number that we need to keep our eyes focused on when we focus on the interest of the Bahamian people,” she added. “That is where the jobs come from. That is where the wages, tips and salaries come from.”
Ms. Walkine said that the question has to be raised as to whether or not the country is using tourism effectively as the development tool for that it is.
As the number one growth industry in the world, she said, there are three primary reasons to stimulate the continued expansion of the tourism industry in The Bahamas.
“The first is that the industry is the largest earner, by far, of foreign exchange and is expected to maintain this position for the foreseeable future.
“The second reason is that the industry is labor intensive and can therefore provide a significant number of the jobs that our nation needs to employ the increasing numbers of school graduates.
“The third reason to support and stimulate the continued expansion of the industry, is the vast and unrealized number of opportunities for a broader distribution of the income derived from tourism to the benefit of more and more Bahamians.”
Ms. Walkine said that it has always been clear that the more small Bahamian businesses participating in supplying and servicing the needs of the industry, the greater the economic benefits derived by The Bahamas from a given level of tourist expenditure.
Accordingly, she said, developing countries around the globe are embracing the industry, and extending the global model well beyond the “traditional vacation fantasy of yesterday’s tourist.”
“So countries throughout the developing world, especially, are directing infrastructure investment dollars and other resources towards the development of their respective tourism industries,” she said.
Bahamians sometimes think only in terms of numbers.
While, to boast of a per capita GDP which is highest in the regional and among the top three in the hemisphere may seem quite the achievement, Ms. Walkine said, this statistic says nothing of the distribution of income in the country.
“Our goals for 2007 and beyond ought not to focus just on raising our returns in the industry, but doing so while also broadening the shares in order that many more might derive meaningful benefits from its development and growth,” she said.
