Monthly Economic and Financial Developments (MEFD) July 2026

Published: Monday August 31st, 2026

Domestic Economic Developments

Overview

During the month of July, the domestic economy expanded at a stable pace, vis-à-vis the corresponding 2025 period. While key indicators continued to trend towards their medium-term potential, tourism output gains strengthened, as earnings growth indicators for the high value-added stopover segment improved, while cruise inflows remained robust. Meanwhile, monetary developments in the review month revealed a reduction in banking sector liquidity, as the growth in domestic credit outpaced the buildup in the Bahamian dollar deposit base. Similarly, external reserves declined in July, on account of foreign currency outflows through both the private and public sectors.

Real Sector

Tourism

Initial data suggests that tourism output growth firmed during the review month, relative to the same month in the previous year, undergirded by increased travel demand from key source markets. Underlying this outturn, was an estimated rebound in high-value stopover volumes, notwithstanding accommodation capacity constraints, and ongoing gains in the cruise sector.

The most recent data provided by the Nassau Airport Development Company Limited (NAD) showed that in July, total departures—net of domestic traffic—rebounded by 7.1% to 180,831, compared to the same period in the previous year. In particular, non-US international departures grew by 24.3% to 23,362. Further, US departures rose by 5.0% to 157,469. On a year-to-date basis, total outbound traffic mover higher by 5.4% to 1.1 million. Specifically, non-US traffic advanced by 33.7% to 0.2 million, while US departures recovered by 0.8% to 0.9 million.

In the short-term rental market, AirDNA data indicated that total room nights sold increased by 10.5% to 63,399 in July, vis-à-vis the same 2025 period. Supporting this outcome, occupancy rates for both entire place listings and hotel comparable listings rose to 56.9% and 52.7%, respectively, from 53.3% and 50.0% in the prior year. Further, the average daily room rate (ADR) for hotel comparable listings moved higher by 7.7% to $177.49, relative to a year earlier. Likewise, the average daily room rate (ADR) for entire place listings firmed by 5.3% to $749.33, from the preceding year.

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