NASSAU, The Bahamas – The Ministry of Tourism and Aviation is seeking qualified private partners to update, operate and improve a number of Family Island airports aimed at increasing visitor arrivals and driving economic growth.

In this vein, interested parties were invited to attend an Industry Forum regarding opportunities under the proposed Public-Private Partnership (PPP) for the Bahamas Airports PPP Program. The forum was held virtually on Monday, June 28, 2021.

Minister of Tourism and Aviation the Hon Dionisio D’Aguilar underscored the importance of such an initiative, during his opening remarks.

“We are anxious to embark on our program of rehabilitating and rebuilding our airports in a number of our key Family Islands.

“It’s very ambitious and we feel that it makes economic sense and hopefully you will see that and be mindful to participate in what we feel would be an interesting investment,” he told the forum.

A main objective of the initiative is to focus on sustainable and resilient long-term solutions to rebuilding airport infrastructure in a number of key Family Islands namely:

1. Grand Bahama International Airport - Freeport, Grand Bahama; 
2. Leonard M. Thompson International Airport - Marsh Harbour, Abaco; 
3. Exuma International Airport - Exuma, Great Exuma; 
4. North Eleuthera International Airport - Eleuthera; 
5. Long Island International Airport - Deadman’s Cay, Long Island; 
6. Great Harbour Cay (Berry Islands) and San Salvador (San Salvador island) international airports.

“We have reviewed those islands where we need these airports. We feel that they have sufficient traffic and as we look into the future, the growth potential on these islands we feel is quite substantial. And if we build the airports we feel that would add to the growth of those islands,” the minister said.

Under this PPP Program, the airport facilities are not being sold. The Government is seeking experienced, qualified private partners to update, operate, and improve the portfolio of airports to drive traffic and revenue growth and further enhance quality of service. 

“This is a very exciting event for us. This is the first time we have contemplated such a mechanism to fund some major infrastructure projects here in The Bahamas,” the minister said.

He explained that The Bahamas is an archipelagic country made up of 700 islands (and cays) and so aviation is a critical component of its infrastructure, resulting in having many airports.

Moreover, the Government owns and operates 30 airports – with its flagship being the Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) located in Nassau, the hub.

“From that hub, visitors go to our other islands to experience the beauty of our country. Tourism is our number one industry where 50 percent of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) comes from, and in 2019 we had a record year of 7.2 million foreign visitors who came to the country; of that total just over 1.8 Million came by air,” he said.

About 10 years ago, an estimated half a billion dollars was spent on renovating the LPIA in a public-private partnership venture. Hence, this similar approach is being taken with the Family Islands airports.

The minister noted however, that a number of weather events happened which impacted some of the islands, most recently Hurricane Dorian in 2019.  And while the historic storm impacted Abaco and Grand Bahama, 14 of the 16 islands remained opened in the aftermath of the storm.

“The Bahamas is made up of 16 different destinations and Hurricane Dorian impacted two of the islands; we were able to bounce right back shortly after Dorian, which came September 1, 2019 -- there was a slight dip in visitor arrivals and by December 2019 our tourism arrivals had returned to a growth mechanism,” the minister said.

He observed that geographically, The Bahamas is diverse enough to lessen the potential impact of weather events such as hurricanes.

And, due to its close proximity to the United States – 60 to 80 miles – in excess of 80 percent of tourists are from that region.

Regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, he credited the US on a “wonderful job” in rolling out its vaccination program resulting in Americans traveling in large numbers and yearning to travel.

“Obviously tourism has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic but we are roaring back at a phenomenal rate. As Americans become vaccinated they are yearning to travel, and our tourism sector is growing back at a phenomenal pace,” he said.

The Bahamas is very attractive to visitors due to its close proximity, time zone, exchange in currency rate, and being well known to Americans.

“A lot of second homeowners enjoy the Family Islands and the beauty and way of life from their busy lives.  So we believe that this is an attractive investment,” the minister said.