Emirates To Promote Bahamas Tourism

Credit: Westend61 GmbH/Alamy Stock Photo

Emirates Airline signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the foreign affairs ministry of the Bahamas to jointly work toward growing tourism to the Caribbean country.

Emirates does not fly to the Bahamas itself, but noted its passengers could connect via its service from Dubai (DXB) to Toronto (YYZ) on to Air Canada flights to Nassau (NAS) in the Bahamas via a codeshare agreement between the two airlines. Additionally, passengers can connect from Emirates service to three US airports—Chicago O’Hare (ORD), Houston Intercontinental (IAH) and Newark (EWR)—to NAS on United Airlines via an interline agreement.

Emirates in 2022 signed similar tourism promotion agreements with Mauritius and South Africa.

Emirates said in a statement that it will “embark on joint initiatives” with the country's foreign affairs ministry “to boost visitor traffic into [the Bahamas] from key markets across Emirates’ network.”

Emirates Chairman and CEO Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum said: “Through our partnerships with United and Air Canada, we look forward to playing a key role in promoting the Bahamas as a key leisure destination.”

Emirates said it will develop “tailor-made tour packages” for the Bahamas and “explore opportunities to collaborate on joint advertising campaigns to promote the West Indies destination.”

Bahamas ambassador to the UAE and Qatar Tony Joudi said in a statement that “tourism is the lifeblood of our nation’s economy,” adding: “Emirates is a facilitator of global connectivity and links the East with the West, and we look forward to working closely with the airline to help us achieve our tourism targets.”

Aaron Karp

Aaron Karp is a Contributing Editor to the Aviation Week Network.