Westjet Announces Direct Service to Grand Bahama

Grand Bahama’s tourism sector got a needed shot in the arm on Monday when WestJet Airlines announced direct service there from Toronto, Canada beginning November.

At a press conference at the Isle of Capri Casino, Minister of Tourism and Aviation, Senator Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace affirmed his confidence in what Grand Bahama has to offer.

“I continue to believe that of all the destinations in this part of the world, the one with the greatest potential by far is Grand Bahama Island,” he said. “And I believe that we are on the way to begin to prove that. WestJet’s 737-700 will make two weekly flights from Toronto to Freeport, offering the market 14,000 seats this season.”

By his company’s forecast, WestJet expects to bring 12,000 visitors to Grand Bahama this winter, Saretsky said.

“I am confident that with the product (Grand Bahama offers) and our new direct air service, our twice weekly should be four times weekly by this time next year, and that is the goal,” he stated.

He also had high praise for the Club Grand Bahama concept calling it a “world class promotion.”

Vanderpool-Wallace recalled that some 36 years ago, Grand Bahama was the number one destination in this part of the world for Canadian visitors. A large percentage of them went to West End.

The primary reason for that, he said, was because Grand Bahama was the closest destination to the eastern seaboard of Canada “and at the time we were very much alone in the tourism business.

The Ministry of Tourism has been “diligently” working with their partners in Grand Bahama to restore “the proximity advantage, and it is already beginning to prove effective, said the Minister.

“We have begun to discover why we haven’t been doing better and we are beginning to put that together. We are now beginning to get products together that are extraordinarily competitive and I think this is the opportunity we have been looking for Grand Bahama for a very long time,” said Vanderpool-Wallace.