Bahamas offer Caribbean Carnival and luxury complexes – 08/30/2023 – Tourism

Arlene Nash Ferguson, 72, must have repeated the story so many times that the presentation given to tourists in the house she lived in during her childhood in Nassau, capital of the Bahamas archipelago, became a kind of script. Still, the scene is captivating.

Wearing a lime green blouse that publicizes the project she is part of, she shows a group of visitors rooms with almost no furniture, but full of vibrantly colored costumes, some over three meters tall, and old photographs of fashion shows on Bahamian streets.

The association with the Brazilian Carnival is immediate, of course.

But this is Junkanoo, a festival typical of the archipelago whose history is kept alive by people like Arlene. “It doesn’t matter your social class. It’s taxi drivers and priests together on the street. What matters is wearing the best clothes” — after all, being competitive is a mandatory task at the festival, celebrated in late December and early January.

Arlene shows the costumes, many of which she helped to make, made with materials such as cardboard, crepe paper, wire, sequins and glue, and invites the visitor to participate. It is, in a way, the expression of a government that has invested significantly in attracting tourists, especially after the attenuation of the Covid pandemic.

The Caribbean archipelago reopened in July 2021 for international tourism. High-income Brazilian tourists “crowded the Bahamas,” said an official at the local Ministry of Tourism. Many used the islands to undergo the 14-day quarantine required at the time by the United States to enter the country.

In the chain of islands located just a few hours from Miami, local history, accompanied by a luxury leisure profile, is a fundamental part of tourism. But it is still not so common to find photos of King Charles III, the head of state of the Bahamian parliamentary monarchy, on the walls. The common image is of Elizabeth II, who died in 2022.

In the case of Junkanoo, says Arlene, the festival emerged as a legacy of enslaved people brought from Africa to the islands at the time of colonization, as a way of celebrating their roots. The ancestry follows a pillar of the festivity, which has become one of the showcases of tourism.

With a limited industrial sector, the Bahamian economy is dependent on tourism and activities that orbit the sector, which makes up 70% of GDP and is one of the main sources of employment for citizens of the islands —whether they work for large enterprises or those who undertake on their own.

On the streets, for example, it’s not difficult to find places that prepare and sell pots of conch salad, a large raw sea snail accompanied by a salad that combines onions, peppers and pineapple.

Refreshing, the dish is a good option to quench hunger and the Caribbean heat while getting to know the colorful streets of the capital, Nassau —get ready for traffic, which is intense.

But there are those who go to the country and do not even set foot in the streets. Luxury resorts proliferate in the Bahamas. One of them is Baha Mar, just minutes from Nassau International Airport. Inaugurated in 2017, the space brings together three hotels —Grand Hyatt, SLS and Rosewood—, the largest casino in the Bahamas, a water park and more than 40 restaurants.

It’s hard to rest and still know every corner of the complex, with more than 2,300 rooms and views of Praia do Cabo. When the space opened, Premier Philip Davis said that there was an opportunity to “completely change the profile of tourism accommodation in the Bahamas”.

In addition to endless pools, sports activities and luxury brand stores that bring together families and wealthy young people, the place has a water park —you can even see sharks, stingrays and turtles— and socializing activities with flamingos, the typical bird of the Bahamas .

To get to the Bahamas from Brazil, it is possible to make a stopover in Panama or Miami — in this case, be aware of the validity of the visa; still under pressure after the pandemic, the US consular service is having considerable waits to revalidate or issue the first visa.

WHERE TO STAY IN THE BAHAMAS

atlantis
https://www.atlantisbahamas.com/pt/
Rates from $354*

Grand Hyatt
https://www.hyatt.com/
Rates from $359*

rosewood
https://www.rosewoodhotels.com/en/baha-mar
Rates from US$1,210*

SLS
https://book.ennismore.com/hotels/sls-hotels/baha-mar
Rates from $449*

* Values ​​may vary according to high or low season and profile of the chosen room

The journalist traveled at the invitation of the Ministry of Tourism, Investments and Aviation of the Bahamas