By INDERIA SAUNDERS, Guardian Business Desk, Inderia@nasguard.com

Local hoteliers appear to be following the lead of their Cuban counterparts, now attempting to fill their rooms with locals lured by rate cuts and promotional campaigns.

In fact, the incentives have never been better for Bahamians looking to spend a weekend away, devoid of the hassle of traveling out of country for that respite.

With the exception of the Atlantis resort, almost all hotel doors in this country are actively seeking to bump up their Bahamian visitors. Their preferential rates are a true indicator of that shift in attitude.

Breezes has slashed its all inclusive price for Bahamians to $99 a night per person, compared to the $249 for foreign visitors. Wyndham is offering $139 per person rate for locals, down from the $160 for international guests. Sandals has decreased it couples rate by 23 percent to $540 per night.

Recent survey of local players suggests their occupancy rates were challenged in the first quarter, a trend that could have inspired them to better mine for local gold. Ironically at least one of those resorts was roundly criticized last year for appearing to discourage a local presence.

Cuban hoteliers are now doing just the opposite to get effect.

That country's tourism economy is experiencing a minor boom courtesy of a significant increase in hotel occupancy rates. That growth also coincided with new President Raul Castro's lift on a ban preventing locals from staying at luxury hotels and renting cars. It was an initiative designed in part to bolster tourism during the off season.

That destination is known to have considerably lower price points, a strategy completely opposite from this country, increasingly focused on winning well-heeled American tourists, a niche target market that hasn't been as recession proof as analysts have long suggested it is.

Destinations like Cuba have sustained their volume of tourists largely because the cost of getting and staying there is just so low. It makes them especially attractive to European and Canadian tourists.

Both represent customer bases The Bahamas is still trying to grow.

Given the most recent Ministry of Tourism numbers, local hoteliers may not be waiting on that fruit to fall. In May, The Bahamas saw an overall decline in visitors of nearly six percent, with only a 1.5 percent increase in stopover visitors.