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NASSAU, The Bahamas — The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism has appointed veteran Bahamian hotel and hospitality executive Jackson Alexander Weech as Director General, effective October 1, 2026, bringing more than 35 years of tourism leadership to the Ministry as the country enters its next phase of record tourism growth.
Weech takes the helm following a record 12.5 million visitors to The Bahamas in 2025 and continued growth in stopover tourism during 2026. His appointment brings extensive private-sector hotel experience into the Ministry at a time when The Bahamas is focusing on airlift, workforce development, tourism infrastructure, visitor experience and expanding the economic benefits of tourism across its 16 island destinations.
For The Bahamas, this is more than a leadership change. It could mark the beginning of a new day for Bahamian tourism.
From Record Arrivals to the Next Tourism Chapter
Weech is not walking into an industry searching for a recovery. He is inheriting momentum.
The Bahamas welcomed a record 12.5 million visitors in 2025, an increase of 11.4% over 2024. The numbers were driven heavily by sea arrivals, which reached 10.8 million, while air arrivals totaled approximately 1.7 million.
More significantly for the higher-spending overnight tourism economy, 2026 is showing renewed strength in stopover travel. Through July, The Bahamas recorded 1,314,639 stopover visitors, the strongest January-to-July performance on record and 4.3% ahead of the same period in 2025. March, April, June and July all established monthly stopover records.
That gives the incoming Director General something tourism leaders rarely inherit: momentum. The question facing the new leadership is therefore not simply how to attract more visitors.
It is how to translate record tourism demand into greater economic value for The Bahamas and its people.
From the Hotel Floor to the Director General’s Office
Weech’s appointment represents an interesting shift in perspective.
Rather than coming primarily from the destination-marketing side of tourism, he arrives with more than 35 years in the business of operating hotels, managing people, balancing budgets, dealing with guests and working through the day-to-day realities of the country’s largest industry.
His career has included senior positions at Atlantis Paradise Island, Sandals Royal Bahamian, Sandals Negril and SuperClubs Breezes Bahamas.
Most recently, Weech served as Vice President and General Manager of The Royal Towers at Atlantis Paradise Island, with responsibility for hotel operations, financial performance, guest experience, capital planning and senior leadership development.
He has also served as President of the Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association since December 2024.
His industry involvement has put him directly into discussions surrounding some of the same issues that will now land on his desk at the Ministry: workforce development, infrastructure, product improvement, airlift and cooperation between government and the private sector.
Now Weech is moving from one side of that table to the other.
Tourism Minister: Weech Understands the Industry “From the Ground Up”
Tourism Minister Glenys Hanna Martin said Weech’s operational background was an important asset for the Ministry.
“Jackson Weech brings to the Ministry a depth of tourism industry experience that will be invaluable as we continue to strengthen the sector and ensure that tourism delivers meaningful economic opportunities for Bahamians,” Hanna Martin said.
“He understands this industry from the ground up, from the people who deliver the visitor experience every day to the businesses, stakeholders and partners who drive the success of our tourism economy.”
For a country where tourism remains central to employment, investment and economic activity, that ground-level experience could prove particularly relevant.
The next phase of Bahamian tourism will not necessarily be measured by arrival records alone.
The larger challenge is converting extraordinary visitor volumes into greater economic value: stronger stopover business, more airlift, better visitor experiences, improved infrastructure, a deeper tourism workforce and more opportunities for Bahamian-owned businesses and communities across the islands.
Beyond Nassau: 16 Destinations, One Bahamas
There is another major opportunity waiting for the new Director General. The Bahamas may be internationally famous, but much of its global tourism recognition remains concentrated around Nassau, Paradise Island, and a relatively small number of marquee destinations.
A Lifetime of Islands
The country’s “A Lifetime of Islands”campaign was designed to broaden that perception.
Launched in 2025 and featuring Lenny Kravitz, the campaign presents The Bahamas not as one island vacation but as 16 distinct island destinations among more than 700 islands and cays.
The opportunity for Weech is to help turn that marketing promise into a broader tourism economy. There are already encouraging signs.
Through July 2026, stopover arrivals from Canada increased 15.4%, Latin America 16.4%, and Europe 4%. Exuma recorded an 18.6% increase in air arrivals, while Nassau and Paradise Island saw a 6.4% increase.
Diversification matters. So does airlift.
The United States remains the dominant source market, making additional growth from Canada, Latin America and Europe strategically significant. At the same time, spreading visitors—and tourism spending—across more Bahamian islands remains one of the country’s biggest opportunities.
Jackson Weech: “I Have Spent My Career in This Industry”
For Weech, the new position brings together several strands of a career spent inside Bahamian and Caribbean hospitality.
“I have spent my career in this industry and have had the privilege of working alongside many of the people and organizations that make Bahamian tourism successful.”
Weech said he looks forward to working with Hanna Martin, the Ministry’s tourism professionals and private-sector partners to advance the industry’s continued development.
“I am honored to have been entrusted with the responsibility of serving as Director General of The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism,” he said.
His background extends beyond hotel operations. Earlier in his career, Weech worked in human resources and labor relations, including as Assistant Executive Director of the Bahamas Hotel Employers’ Association, representing hotels in mediation and arbitration.
He studied hotel management at Shannon College of Hotel Management in Ireland and the Bahamas Hotel Training College and completed Cornell University’s Executive Development Program.
Latia Duncombe Leaves Behind Record Numbers
Weech succeeds Latia Duncombe, who led Bahamas Tourism through a period of record growth, including three consecutive record years for visitor arrivals and 12.5 million visitors in 2025. Her tenure also saw the launch of the “A Lifetime of Islands” campaign, promoting all 16 island destinations globally and leaving a strong foundation for the Ministry’s next chapter.
Weech succeeds Latia Duncombe, who became Acting Director General in January 2022 before being formally appointed in January 2023.
Her departure closes a significant chapter for Bahamas Tourism.
During her tenure, The Bahamas recorded three consecutive record years for visitor arrivals and launched the “A Lifetime of Islands” global positioning campaign, designed to introduce international travelers to the country’s individual island destinations.
Hanna Martin thanked Duncombe for her service, noting that she was only the third woman to serve as technical head of the Ministry.
“Her impact is woven into the fabric of Bahamian tourism,” the Minister said.
That acknowledgment matters.
Weech is not being asked to erase the previous chapter. He inherits its successes—and the considerably harder job of building on them.
What Comes After Another Bahamas Tourism Record?
The headline numbers coming from The Bahamas are impressive, but they also raise a more important question.
What comes after another record?
For Bahamas Tourism, simply counting more visitors may no longer tell the entire story.
The measurements that increasingly matter are how much visitors spend, how long stopover guests stay, how many islands participate meaningfully in tourism growth, how effectively air connectivity expands, whether infrastructure keeps pace and how much of tourism’s success reaches Bahamian workers, entrepreneurs and communities.
That is where Jackson Weech’s appointment becomes particularly interesting.
A hotelier understands that a destination ultimately succeeds or fails at the point where the promise made by marketing meets the experience delivered to the guest.
Weech has spent decades on that side of tourism.
Beginning October 1, he will be responsible for helping connect it with national tourism strategy.
The Bahamas already has the beaches, brand recognition, proximity to North America, growing international markets and an extraordinary collection of islands. It also enters this leadership transition with record stopover momentum rather than a crisis to solve.
For Jackson Weech, the assignment is therefore bigger than keeping visitor numbers climbing.
It is about turning momentum into value, making tourism growth work across more islands and communities, and ensuring that Bahamians remain at the center of the country’s tourism success.
A new Director General. Record momentum. Sixteen island destinations to take to the world.
For Bahamas Tourism, October 1 could indeed mark the beginning of a new day.
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