(Eleuthera, Bahamas) – Tourism Minister, Hon. Obie Wilchcombe who was in Eleuthera on July 30th, toured The Cove resort in Gregory Town along with Prime Minister Hon. Perry Christie, Minister of Investments Hon. Khaalis Rolle, Director of Investments, Joy Jibrilu and Strategic Policy Advisor, Sir Baltram Bethel.
At the event, Minister Wilchcombe spoke directly to how the current Government views Eleuthera.
“Eleuthera is one of the islands that we believe requires much more attention than we have given it in the past and this development speaks to where we are going to go,” The Minister said.
The ongoing upgrades to The Cove property have created 150 jobs so far with 200 permanent jobs expected to be created upon completion giving a much needed boost to the local Eleuthera economy. David Darville of Gregory Town, returned home three weeks ago and within one week was employed on the property.
(L-R) Sir Baltram Bethel, Strategic Policy Advisor; Minister of Tourism, Obie Wilchcombe; and Prime Minister, Hon. Perry Christie. Photo by Elizabeth Bryan.
“We are going to ensure that our unit responsible for Family Islands and also for small hotels will be paying much more attention [to Eleuthera] and will create a campaign that is designed to cause greater exposure and not only are we moving to make sure we get the exposure but also a booking engine to ensure that these properties are able to be accessed by the world,” said Minister Wilchcombe.
He further emphasized that airlift will be a major part of their focus, while hinting of upgrades to come for the airports in Governor’s Harbour and North Eleuthera. In recent days the airport in Governor’s Harbour has received a much needed face lift with a paint job but much more is needed to improve the overall standard of the facility in the center of the island.
BIS Photo: Ongoing work at the The Cove, Eleuthera.
On marketing the island, the Minister said, they will ensure their campaigns, including internet services are utilised to focus on and brand not only Nassau and Grand Bahama but also the other islands of The Bahamas. Referring specifically to Eleuthera he said, “being an island with so much history – we want to make sure that the world knows that this exists.”
At the North Eleuthera Airport he said, the Ministry would like to triple the current number of current visitors from the 150-200 thousand annually, to, 500-600 thousand.
He said they are tackling the difficult issue of connectivity – distributing visitors to the many islands from hubs in Nassau and Grand Bahama bearing in mind the need to lower the costs.
