Mark 2019 down as a great year for The Bahamas.

The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism & Aviation this week reported the island nation exceeded a record-breaking seven million visitors in 2019.

The ministry attributed the historic success to data-driven, agile marketing, authentic storytelling, and aggressive PR, sales and airlift strategies. While the impacts of Hurricane Dorian are still felt, the hard work and dedication of ministry partners have ensured that The Bahamas is still rockin'.

"It is with great pride and pleasure that I report The Bahamas' strongest tourism numbers in history," said Minister of Tourism & Aviation, Dionisio D'Aguilar. "We look forward to building upon the success of our marketing efforts and continuing the momentum in 2020 as we show the world that The Bahamas continues to be open for business and has so much to offer visitors."

"This tremendous achievement would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of the team behind the scenes at the Ministry of Tourism as well as our industry and agency partners," said Director General Joy Jibrilu.

RECORD ARRIVALS

The impact of Hurricane Dorian has not slowed The Bahamas' tourism growth. Since 2009, the islands have continuously seen a steady increase in air and sea arrivals with an impressive 52% increase in just 10 years.

According to the Department of Immigration, Port Authority and Customs, 2019 was a record-breaking year for The Bahamas, with the highest number of arrivals by air and sea recorded in the country's history. By the end of 2019, foreign air and sea arrivals had totaled more than 7.2 million, a 9.0% increase from 2018.

AIRLIFT INCREASE

The Islands Of The Bahamas expect to see this trend of increasing arrivals by air continue as major airlines, including United Airlines, British Airways and Delta Airlines have increased their airlift to Nassau in 2020.