Bahamas Philately

Following the end of the Second World War, the Bahamas Government looked back at its economic history of short lived booms and decided it would develop two primary areas of economic activity in an attempt to create a stable economy. One of those primary activities was a year round tourism industry. Previously, tourism was limited to a short three to four month season and appealed just to affluent visitors from the USA and Europe escaping winter weather.

In 1949 the Government passed the Hotels Encouragement Act designed to stimulate the construction of hotels by offering refund of custom duties and other similar concessions. By 1950, the Tourism Development Board was revived and undertook extensive advertising, opening five overseas offices in North America and Europe.

Tourism in the Bahamas exploded until the 1970s, when political and social changes began to unravel the work undertaken in the 1950s and 60s.

Choose Your Period of Travel

About this exhibit

This online exhibit contains stamps, postcards and postal stationery reflecting the tourism industry of The Bahamas between 1950-1979.

There are three key focus areas for my collection:

Stamps between 1954-1979 (mainly QE2 era)
Postcards between 1950-1979, and
Hotel or tourism-related covers from 1950-1979.

I began this collection in 2020. Exhibiting my collection online allows me to add new acquisitions, new research and additional areas with minimal effort and share the material with others.

All images available at Bahamas Philately (Facebook).