Bahamas Tourist Minister Optimistic

Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace, the minister of tourism in the Bahamas, has dismissed projections that the country's tourism industry will shrink by 9.8 percent this year in terms of GDP.
Vanderpool-Wallace said the World Travel and Tourism Council made the gloomy predictions based on the 2008 Bahamas industry performance.
He was confident that new initiatives put in place by his ministry will prove the WWTC wrong.
The minister didn't discount that the volume of business from the U.S. would shrink, but he said his ministry is working hard to give value for money in the Bahamas.
Noting that cruise arrivals to the Bahamas in January were up 26 percent – the highest figure in any January in history – Vanderpool-Wallace told The Nassau Tribune that the cruise ship presents the best vacation value and his ministry is working to make sure the value for land-based holidays in the Bahamas becomes more attractive.
One of the ministry's initiatives is the all-inclusive ‘Club Grand Bahama,' which allows visitors to hotel hop. Under this programme, visitors know up front what a holiday will cost instead of having an open ended cheque book.
The ministry also has launched a new ad campaign on CNN under the theme, “It's Better in the Bahamas.”