By VERNON CLEMENT JONES, Guardian Business Editor, vernon@nasguard.com

A leading tour operator has beefed up his advertising budget by nearly 20 percent over the last six months, an unconventional move by local standards but one that appears to have shielded his business from a slowdown in the U.S. economy.

"There's a great propensity to cut back on advertising when there's a downturn in the economy," said Bahamas Experience CEO Michael Symonette, "but our thinking has always been to up our efforts and spending in order to maintain our position.

"Over the last six months, we've raised our budget by 18 percent and it has proven successful."

His move comes as the latest visitor arrival numbers to The Bahamas suggest modest gains are in fact being made in the number of stopover visitors our destinations are able to attract. Those hotel-bound and highly coveted hotel guests rose six percent in number last January compared to the same month in 2007. Still, cruise visitors saw a 10 percent drop, a fall tour operators have taken on the chin.

Symonette, a 27-year veteran of this country's number one industry, is now crunching Q1 results, for his own business, but indications are Bahamas Experience has managed to stave off the revenue losses many of its competitors are now reporting. He's now recommending those industry players follow his lead in order to better fend off the effects of U.S. "recession".

Symonette's operation, catering to the ground transportation needs of high-end group and individual travellers, has poured much of its new spending into an existing Internet advertising campaign. With the growing proliferation of travel sites like Travelocity, that forum is the new battlefield for tour operators looking to make most of their bookings with tourists online and before they've even left home.

The proactive move means Bahamas Experience is able to piggyback on the Web advertising efforts of the Nassau resorts it already works with — high-end Atlantis is one of its most successful partnerships. Still, at the same time Symonette's expanded advertising budget is helping to connect him with the would-be guests of lower-end properties nonetheless anxious to see Nassau in style. Limousines, in fact, figure prominently in the company's inventory of vehicles.

Americans continue to represent the overwhelming majority of tourist riding around in those cars and tour vans, he told Guardian Business this week, suggesting that his company has also moved to better target European and Canadian visitors. Any gains made there are the result of concerted efforts, he asserts.

"At this time especially, you can't just sit down and expect clients to just come into your store," Symonette said. "We've decided to get out there, to get more global."