NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Stopover visitor arrivals to Exuma have increased four percent year-over-year, with the United States accounting for more than 87 percent of the island’s visitors, according to Ministry of Tourism Executive Director of Global Communications, Research and Statistics Andre Miller, who says expanding airlift and targeted international marketing are critical to sustaining the island’s tourism growth.
Speaking at the 20th Annual Exuma Business Outlook Seminar on Thursday, Miller revealed that Canada has emerged as Exuma’s fastest-growing source market, recording a six percent increase in visitors year-over-year.
“Exuma arrivals year-over-year are up four percent. Now, that is a great increase in terms of what we’re looking at specifically as stopover arrivals, not cruise arrivals,” Miller said.
“Over 87 percent of the travelers coming to Exuma are from the U.S. in particular, and then that’s followed by Canada with four percent. Canada has the highest year-over-year growth at six percent.”
Miller said the increase in Canadian travel reflects several international developments that have influenced tourism patterns across the Caribbean, creating opportunities for The Bahamas to attract additional visitors.
He noted that the country is also on course for a potentially record-breaking year in stopover tourism.
“Right now, for those who don’t know, The Bahamas is trending on a record-breaking path for stopover arrivals for 2026,” Miller said.
“If we keep on that same path and everyone contributes and everyone does what they’re supposed to do rightfully in their own respective way, shape or form in the industry, hopefully we can finish this year with a record-breaking year in stopover arrivals in particular.”
The tourism executive also provided insight into Exuma’s visitor profile, revealing that tourists spend an average of 6.5 nights on the island, while approximately 40 percent are repeat visitors.
He said the average visitor is 42 years old, with tourists typically planning their trips more than three months in advance.
“The return visitors currently are 40 percent. Now, hopefully, based on everyone playing their parts, giving that compelling experience for persons to want to return over and over again, we need to get this 40 percent up,” Miller said.
He stressed that the data presents important opportunities for hotels, vacation rental operators and other tourism businesses to improve their marketing strategies.
“The lead time, on average, is 91-plus days,” he said.
“That means that persons are planning roughly three months out. And what does that mean for everyone in here who is a stakeholder in the industry? That means if you are trying to fill rooms at a specific time during the calendar year, you need to make sure that your advertising is in front of someone at least three months out.”
Miller encouraged tourism operators to use the visitor data to better target potential customers and align their promotional campaigns with seasonal demand.
He also highlighted the importance of airlift in driving Exuma’s continued economic expansion, pointing to the scheduled return of flights from Atlanta and Toronto next month.
According to Miller, Delta Air Lines is scheduled to resume its Atlanta service on November 14, while Air Canada is expected to restart flights from Toronto on November 15.
Exuma also benefits from American Airlines service from Miami and Charlotte, along with connections from Fort Lauderdale through Bahamasair and Aztec Airways.
Miller urged businesses to begin promoting their products and services in markets served by the returning flights ahead of the winter tourism season.
“If you’re looking at the Canadian audiences, if you’re looking at the audiences in Atlanta, you should really be promoting to them now,” he said.
“You should have already been promoting to them so that those persons can start to look at when they would want a vacation for the winter season.”
He stressed that increased airlift must be accompanied by quality visitor experiences if Exuma is to capitalize fully on its growing international exposure.
“We always speak about The Bahamas not being exactly the cheapest destination for persons to travel to, which is why it’s incumbent upon everyone to ensure that the value of that experience is that much more rewarding,” Miller said.
He explained that competition from destinations offering more all-inclusive accommodation options and stronger air connections makes service quality particularly important.
Miller also outlined the Ministry of Tourism’s international public relations and advertising efforts, revealing that its promotional activities generated 584 pieces of media coverage through the third quarter of 2026.
According to figures presented, those efforts generated approximately 2.8 billion media impressions and an estimated $26 million in advertising value.
The ministry works with public relations agencies in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Italy and Canada to secure international exposure for the destination.
Miller said the ministry has hosted nine media representatives specifically for Exuma-related coverage and undertaken 118 press releases, newsletters and media pitches.
He noted that partnerships with local tourism operators are essential to those promotional efforts, particularly when international journalists are hosted on the island.
The ministry has also shifted away from marketing the Family Islands collectively, instead promoting individual destinations by name to increase international recognition.
“Now we’ve done an intentional job to start to market every single island by name, so now you would see advertisements for Exuma, Long Island, Eleuthera, Abaco,” Miller said.
He explained that the ministry is using digital platforms, including YouTube, Google, Instagram and Facebook, to target potential visitors and encourage them to explore individual islands.
The strategy forms part of the ministry’s wider international marketing campaign, launched in February 2025 under the tagline, “It’s not one island. It’s a lifetime of them.”
Miller said the campaign, which features Bahamian musician Lenny Kravitz, is designed to distinguish individual destinations and encourage visitors to explore more of the country.
“The days of advertising 700 islands, 1,000 cays are gone,” he said. “Now we market 16 major island groups within the islands of The Bahamas.”
He explained that digital advertising also allows the ministry to identify potential visitors who engage with Exuma-related content and subsequently target them with additional promotional material and travel offers.
Miller encouraged tourism stakeholders to ensure their businesses are properly represented on the ministry’s promotional platforms, including Bahamas.com, to benefit from international marketing efforts.
He emphasized that while the ministry continues to expand Exuma’s visibility overseas, maintaining high service standards remains essential to converting first-time visitors into repeat customers.
“Our people are really what’s representative in terms of what will bring persons back, and also the value that you deliver in terms of the experiences that everyone within the industry has to provide,” Miller said.
He added that continued collaboration between tourism businesses, government agencies and industry stakeholders will be essential to translating increased visitor arrivals into broader economic benefits for Exuma.