by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
The Abacos Islands in the northern Bahamas have long been a vacation destination for sport fishermen, boaters and the occasional surfer from Jacksonville. Just 200 miles away, the 120-mile island chain is home to pristine beaches, hidden inlets and quiet getaways.
Last week, a delegation from the independent island nation was in town to begin preliminary discussions about how Abacos and Jacksonville can forge a better relationship for tourist and business purposes.
“We are here fact-finding to determine the level of interest and potential business,” said Don Cornish, general manager of the Abaco Tourist Office in the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism. “We are looking to bridge the gap. People come to the Abacos and they love it.”
Cornish was joined in Jacksonville by Doranell Swain, who also works in his office, George Wilmore, a Bahamian businessman and sport fisherman, and Revif Rolle, a Bahamian government official.
For four days, the delegation toured St. Augustine and Jacksonville, meeting with business owners and representatives from the Jacksonville and the Beaches Convention & Visitors Bureau. From Jacksonville businesses doing commerce with the Abacos to the need for a direct flight from Jacksonville to Marsh Harbour — the biggest city on the Abacos — the delegation went home with a wish list to accomplish over the next year or so.
“We want to partner with the CVB to help promote the vacation opportunities,” said Cornish. “We also want to establish an annual event in Jacksonville to help drive business. From an aviation perspective, we need access to the airlines, and from the marine side, we are looking to increase boat traffic by putting up signs in the marinas and at the (Jacksonville Port Authority’s) marine terminal.”
John Reyes, president of the CVB, said the meetings went well and the groundwork for a future relationship has been established.
“In our industry, it isn’t unusual for destinations to cross participate,” said Reyes. “We had a really good meeting.
“The group from the Abacos let us know that Jacksonville is one of their top markets. There is an opportunity for the people in the Abacos to come to Jacksonville. We can do general cross-marketing promotions.”
Reyes said the group will return in a few months to bring a new program to Jacksonville, and the CVB plans to help them connect to the right people to get started.
Reyes added there is a possibility the CVB’s and the Abacos’ Web sites can be used to cross promote each destination.
“They promote themselves as a family-oriented and nature-based destination, and so is Jacksonville,” said Reyes.
With a population more the size of Atlantic Beach — 14,000 — and plenty of room for growth, Rolle said the Abacos are prime for development. While he doesn’t foresee huge housing developments – there are strict rules regulating the type and size of housing in the Abacos – Rolle said he sees the day when the country has, and could sustain, a population of 1 million.
“Jacksonville seems to be a city going through a population explosion,” he said. “That says to us there are a myriad of opportunities and potential. We have noticed in the North Florida area the shopping is even better than in the Abacos. There are great opportunities to reciprocity.”
Rolle said his nation, which gained its independence July 10, 1973, imports 90 percent of its consumable goods from Florida. Rising prices in South Florida and the availability of those same goods in North Florida are combining to make the Abacos one of Jacksonville’s top export markets.
“We are currently going through a boom in our economy, too,” said Rolle. “Last year, we had a 5.7 percent growth rate in our economy. The analysts are predicting 6.5 percent and 6.7 percent over the next two years. That is phenomenal.
“As a result, we have a construction industry that is exploding. We definitely need building materials, and we feel this area can help us.”
Rolle said he and Cornish are working with the Jacksonville Sister Cities division to establish an official Sister Cities relationship between Jacksonville and Marsh Harbour.
“We are looking to bring not only tourists to our shores, but investors as well,” said Rolle.
Travel to the Bahamas did get more difficult Jan. 1. In addition to needing a valid passport to enter the Bahamas, Americans also need a valid travel visa to travel to much of the Caribbean, South America and Canada. Cornish said his office launched a Web-based campaign to make anyone with long-booked travel plans to the Abacos aware of the new requirements.
“We made it very easy for our visitors,” he said.
Cornish said the best-kept secret about the Abacos may be the locals and how they treat tourists. Because tourism comprises nearly all of the country’s income, Cornish said everyone, from resort managers to room attendants to local officials, is aware of the importance of making a great, lasting impression.
“We have a great relationship with our guests. We call them guests, not visitors,” explained Cornish. “We are very intimate with our guest, we get to know them by name.
“We have a very high satisfaction index. We have a 69 percent return rate, and we celebrate that. Our customers really appreciate the experience. In fact, some of them don’t want us to promote the Abacos.”
Rolle said the most important aspect of handling the islands’ inevitable growth is to manage it responsibly. He said the central government of the Abacos has instituted a land-use management policy that uses a geographical information system, which divides the islands into a grid.
“We are using data to make sure the Abacos are well-planned,” said Rolle. “It’s an unwritten rule, but we really don’t want any properties higher than three stories.
“We don’t want any cluttered developments ... We don’t want to create anything like Jacksonville, Miami or even Nassau [capital of the Bahamas].”