Atlantis. Baha Mar. The Ocean Club, a Four Seasons Resort. Graycliff. Margaritaville Beach Resort. Goldwynn. Sandals Royal Bahamian. The British Colonial. The Comfort Suites. These two islands are home to some of the greatest resorts in the Caribbean: Nassau & Paradise Island, the twin-island hotspot in The Bahamas that continues to see surging visitor numbers.
But visitors to the Bahamian capital are finding more than just terrific accommodations. They’re a getting a deep, immersive sense of Bahamian culture.
You see it all over the destination — and its hotels. Maybe it’s the locally-focused art gallery at the Baha Mar. Maybe it’s the conch salad at McKenzie’s in the Marina Village. Or the deep dive into history at Graycliff’s Heritage Museum of The Bahamas. Or perhaps you take a journey to the recently-revitalized Queen’s Staircase downtown.
No matter where you go, you’ll find real, authentic Bahamian experiences. And that’s by design.
The idea, Nassau Paradise Island Promotion Board CEO Joy Jibrilu told Caribbean Journal, is to cultivate a “sense of place.”
“As we looked at market intelligence post-Covid, we asked why people were traveling,” she said. “Of course, one of the biggest reasons is that they wanted genuine, authentic cultural experiences.”
That’s why Jibrilu has made delivering on that promise a major priority for the promotion board.
It’s a big reason why the destination emphasizes the ampersand in its name now. It’s not Nassau Paradise Island, it’s Nassau & Paradise Island. It’s about getting more, exploring more.
And that philosophy has taken shape in the destination’s new brand identity, which showcases the dynamic, vibrant culture of The Bahamas, and all the ways travelers can experience it, whether it’s watching a Junkanoo celebration or a foodie journey to sample fresh conch at Potter’s Cay.
The results have been dramatic. The destination’s website numbers are up almost 40 percent, with an even more striking increase in visitor engagement, driven by a collection of local “storytellers” who have been showcasing Nassau & Paradise Island through their own eyes and visions.
More and more hotels are embracing these kinds of experiences.
“I’m seeing it across the board,” she says. “You look at Baha Mar, for example, they’ve infused Bahamian culture throughout the resort. Atlantis is all about the lifestyle, and feeling the spirit of Nassau and Paradise Island. It’s causing our member properties to lean in the same way by having these experiences shared through a different lens.”
It’s helped put the spotlight on a destination that has itself been changing and developing a more immersive experience. You see it downtown, where the renaissance is a trend we’ve been following for a decade.
The Queen’s Staircase is a great example. The 66-step staircase was hand-carved by 600 enslaved people in the late 18th century, eventually named for the Queen Victoria after she signed a declaration to abolish slavery.
The site completed a major overhaul last year and it has since become one of the most popular places to visit on the entire island, a historic, culturally significant site that, with some effort and public engagement, became a major tourist draw.
“You go there any day of the week now, and the amount of people walking through is incredible,” Jibrilu said.
The success of the Queen’s Staircase is causing a bit of a ripple effect, Jibrilu said.
“It’s a domino effect,” she said. “My hotel partners are also talking now and saying, we should start something else. Now that the Queen’s Staircase is done, the government is saying it will rehabilitate the nearby water tower. You’re seeing the murals on the walls downtown. All of this is helping, and I hope it’s the beginning of what could be a really great experience for the whole of downtown.”
Nassau was also recently in the spotlight for its hosting of the Routes global aviation conference, which “showed the world that a small nation in the Caribbean could host a successful Routes,” she said. It also helped put Nassau’s Lynden Pindling International Airport – and the destination’s growing airlift, in the spotlight.
“Everyone come back really positively,” she said. “We’re the microcosm for the whole Caribbean region, and if we were successful, I hope that it puts a positive spotlight on the whole region.”
Indeed, Routes was a reminder of how layered and well-rounded a destination this is: a place where you can find historic sites, authentic food, dynamic local culture, exuberant music and a thriving arts scene, world-class resorts and boutique hotels— and expertly manage one of the hemisphere’s most important conferences.
In other words, that should give you a pretty good sense of the place.
