Deputy PM of The Bahamas, I. Chester Cooper, spoke at Florida’s “Alpha Day on the Hill,” promoting The Bahamas to African American fraternity leaders.
This week, The Honorable I. Chester Cooper, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism, Investments & Aviation of The Bahamas, made a significant visit to Tallahassee, Florida. He addressed the leadership gathering at the “Alpha Day on the Hill” event organized by the Florida Federation of Alpha Chapters, emphasizing the theme “Continuing the Legacy of Service and Advocacy in our Communities.” The event, which took place on January 25th at the Florida Historic Capitol Museum, was a key opportunity for Deputy Prime Minister Cooper to promote The Bahamas as an exemplary destination for African American fraternity meetings and conferences, particularly targeting the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) sector.
DPM Cooper said: “I embraced this opportunity to speak to a gathering that encompasses representatives from all Florida chapters of Alpha Phi Alpha. Our sales team in the United States has been seriously engaging with social groups like fraternities, and as a result, we are seeing more and more fraternities such as Alpha Phi Alpha selecting The Bahamas as the location for their meetings. Alphas in Florida are just half hour away from The Bahamas.”
Alpha Phi Alpha, a prestigious fraternity with a rich heritage in the African American community, holds the honor of being the first Greek-letter fraternity established for African American men at the collegiate level. Founded in 1906 at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, by seven African American college men, Alpha Phi Alpha now boasts a global membership of over 290,000.
“The year 2023 was a banner year in tourism that brought us an unprecedented 8 million plus in visitor arrivals.” said DPM Cooper. “Meetings, Incentive, Conferences 8 Exhibitions, what we call the MICE industry, accounts for 40% of all tourism business to The Bahamas. Fraternities are an important subset of the overall MICE market. MICE is a high growth market that delivers large numbers of visitors per event, hundreds, and in some cases thousands of visitors. This is a sector that we are pursuing vigorously, with the overall goal of increasing our stop-over visitor numbers.
In the previous year, The Bahamas experienced a significant 25% increase in its MICE business compared to pre-pandemic levels. Looking ahead, the incentive research foundation has forecasted a 37% rise in incentive program budgets across the United States in 2024, a promising trend for The Bahamas as it aims to become a leading MICE destination in the Caribbean for African American and other groups.
The Alpha Day on the Hill, a yearly event held by the Florida Federation of Alpha Chapters in Tallahassee, Florida’s capital, coincides with the start of Florida’s legislative session. The event is a crucial platform for African American community leaders to discuss various bills, legislation, and advocacy issues that impact the African American community.
Concluding his visit, Deputy Prime Minister Cooper of The Bahamas made a courtesy call to Dr. Larry Robinson, President of Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), and took the opportunity to meet with Bahamian students attending the university, further strengthening the ties between The Bahamas and the African American community.
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