By TAMARA McKENZIE, Assistant News Editor, tamara@nasguard.com

The Bahamas has recorded a 3.8 percent increase in visitor arrivals for the month of February, compared to last year over the same time period.

According to Tourism Minister Neko Grant, The Bahamas also recorded an increase in stopover visitors from Europe in February of some eight percent; stopover arrivals from Canada were up 28 percent as a result of new airlift from Calgary and Latin American arrivals were up by 17 percent.

A decline in arrival figures, however, was experienced in New Providence, Grand Bahama, Exuma and Long Island, when compared to last year.

Revealing the latest arrival figures for February 2008 in the House of Assembly Wednesday, Grant said a total of 803,213 visitors came to The Bahamas, in comparison to the 774,015 who visited the same month last year.

Nassau accommodated a total of 451,638 visitors last year but this number decreased in February 2008 to 447,535.

Grant attributed this less than one percent decline to the economic slowdown in the US, the skyrocketing cost of fuel and the sub-prime meltdown and related collapse of the U.S. housing market.

Grant said Grand Bahama also experienced a 10 percent decline in visitors as of February 2008 from the 97,166 recorded last year, to 87,455.

"I hasten to add that had it not been for the sustained efforts of my ministry it would have been worse," Grant said. "Our efforts resulted in the Discovery [cruise lines] continuing to call on Grand Bahama Island when it was scheduled to discontinue service in October of 2007."

But former tourism minister and West End and Bimini MP Obie Wilchcombe said while Grant touted arrival statistics, Bahamians were acutely aware of the challenges and continued growth of competition in the tourism industry.

He said Grant now had to grapple with a pending U.S. recession and an uphill struggle in the industry.

"What I find unusual though is the inability of the side opposite [the government] to simply tell the Bahamian people the truth," Wilchcombe said. "I find it very difficult that you are faced with problems and you don't want to tell the Bahamian people 'these are the facts'. In January of this year we called for a debate on the economic situation of our country but it has not happened."

Wilchcombe said that one year after the Free National Movement took office Bahamians could not celebrate because it was not economically better in The Bahamas.

He said had the FNM left initiatives in place that were started by the Progressive Liberal Party before they were voted out of office last year, they would have been celebrating on their one-year May 2 anniversary.

In the meantime, Grant further revealed that up to February 2008 Abaco visitors increased to 39,207 from 32,686 over the same period last year, marking an increase of 20 percent.

Arrivals in Andros increased by 12 percent. The Berry Islands increased by 23.83 percent and Bimini increased by 23.2 percent, marking a total of 4,026 visitors in Bimini when compared to 3,269 in 2007.

Cat Cay visitor arrival figures for February 2008 were pegged at 1,265 compared with 1,017 in 2007 for a 24.4 per cent increase.

Total visitor arrivals in Cat Island for the month of February were 484 compared with 441 the previous year during the same period, marking a 9.8 percent increase.

Eleuthera recorded total visitor arrivals of 69,100 in February 2008 compared with 68,125 in the same month last year.

Exuma total visitor arrivals in February 2008 were 5,878 compared with 6,595 during the same month last year, marking a decrease of 10.9 percent.

In Inagua, visitor arrivals in February 2007 jumped from 141 to 255 in February of this year, an 80.9 percent increase.

On Long Island, visitor arrivals in February of this year were pegged at 173 compared with 181, marking a decrease of 4.4 per cent.

On Half Moon Cay, visitor arrivals increased in February 2008 to 68,865 compared to 48,302 in 2007, for an increase of 42.6 percent.

In San Salvador, visitor arrivals during February 2008 were at 2,870 compared with 2,856 the previous year, an increase of 0.5 per cent.

Meanwhile, Grant revealed that the government had secured a new advertising agency for Europe.

"This agency, Fox Kalomaski, replaces an agency that has represented us for some 10 years and we felt that in view of the changed environment both in The Bahamas and in Europe that we needed a fresh approach to our marketing efforts," Grant said.

"We are confident that this new agency will deliver break through creative, targeted media and good integration with our PR efforts."