The Cacique Awards also recognizes individuals and organizations from overseas who have significantly made a positive impact on tourism in The Bahamas throughout their services in each respective sector. These include international tour operators, travel agents, travel writers, airlines, cruise lines as well as photographers. However, please note that nominations for awards in these international categories must be sanctioned by The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism & Aviation's overseas Tourist Offices. For questions about international nominations, please email lswann@bahamas.com and twilliamsdavis@bahamas.com.

Nomination Categories

Tour Operator/Travel Agent of The Year

Travel Writer of The Year

Airline of The Year

Cruise Line of The Year

Photographer of The Year

Nomination Criteria

TOUR OPERATOR/TRAVEL AGENT:

  • Nominees must exhibit years of consistency in promoting and selling the Islands of The Bahamas, reflective of the number of hotel room nights in Nassau, Grand Bahama Island and the Out Islands.
     
  • Nominees have occasionally created Bahamas awareness independently or jointly with the BTOs or other travel affiliates, therby increasing sales to the Islands.

TRAVEL WRITER:

  • Submissions for nominees are to be made by the Ministry's Public Relations Agencies based on their involvement with Bahamas media exposure and journalism within their respective territory.

AIRLINE OF THE YEAR:

  •  The Cacique Award for “Airline of the Year” is the most prestigious award extended to the top airline serving The Islands Of The Bahamas in a given year.  All airline partners are rated rates side-by-side based upon transparent criteria to determine how they performed, and how their performance helped the country to achieve and exceed its air stopover arrival growth targets. The criteria includes:
  1. The amount of scheduled seat capacity deployed by the airline in The Islands, which is the sum total of all seats on all scheduled flights on all routes throughout the year;
     
  2. The level of commercial risk undertaken by the airline to provide airlift to The Islands Of The Bahamas.  This category considers how much of the financial risk is undertaken by the airline, itself, balanced against whether or not the air service benefits from some level of marketing/financial incentive;
     
  3. Multiple Bahamas destinations served by the airline.  Greater weight is given to airlines which serve several destinations in The Islands Of The Bahamas, rather than just one;
     
  4.  Hub & Spoke network capability.  Airlines are given higher marks if their scheduled service to The Islands Of The Bahamas originates from a hub with a strong network of connecting flights.  This type of service receives greater consideration because it enhances the “market reach” of the destination -  the ability of The Bahamas to promote itself in far-flung markets where it does not presently enjoy nonstop scheduled air service;
     
  5.  New routes initiated by the airline.  Special credit is given to airlines which introduce new routes to The Islands Of The Bahamas and in the process, widen the base of its airlift;
     
  6. Long haul routes.  Special attention is given to carriers who generate long haul nonstop flights, or generate incremental air stopovers through their Alliances and Code Share relationships with airlines in Asia, Europe, South America where The Islands Of The Bahamas do not presently have nonstop airlift;
     
  7. The total number of nonstop flights.  Special attention is given to airlines based of the number of flights which they generate to The Islands Of The Bahamas;
     
  8. And finally, Commitment to the destination.  This qualitative category was put in place to reward airline partners for their overall commitment to the destination.  This manifests itself in several ways, including special flights undertaken to bring supplies/relief efforts during times of crisis, the decision of airline partners to seamlessly add seat capacity from existing routes to better accommodate the growth of consumer demand, and collaboration of the airline partners with the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism & Aviation in its on-going marketing/tourism promotional efforts.