By NEIL HARTNELL
Tribune Business Editor
nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
Airbnb bookings in the Bahamas soared by 37.3 percent for June 2018, with occupancy rates exceeding comparable hotel listings as the sector's popularity continued to grow.
The Central Bank of the Bahamas report on June's economic developments disclosed that bookings through the vacation rental website grew by between 24 percent and 52 percent for this nation's four most popular islands compared to the same period in 2017.
Using data supplied by AirDNA, a company that analyses Airbnb data, the Central Bank said: "Conditions remained positive in June, as the number of bookings increased by 37.3 percent when compared to the same period of 2017.
"This was underpinned by an increase in bookings for the key markets of Abaco, Grand Bahama, Exuma and New Providence, which rose by 38.5 percent, 52.1 percent, 48.5 percent and 23.9 percent, respectively. Additionally, the total number of room nights sold increased for both entire homes and hotel comparable listings by 50.1 percent and 38 percent, respectively.
"Similarly, gains were also noted for the average daily rate for entire homes, by 11.7 percent to $360.63, and hotel comparable listings by 4.8 percent to $141.86."
The Bahamas was shown to have 2,646 active Airbnb listings, with occupancy rates for "entire place listings" standing at 50.3 percent compared to 44.9 percent for comparable hotels.
New Providence was shown to have 927 active listings, with "entire place" occupancy rates standing at 51.6 percent compared to 49.9 percent for "comparable hotels". This pattern was repeated across most main vacation rental markets, with Abaco's 282 listings producing 54.6 percent occupancies compared to 47.8 percent for hotels.
Comments
Well_mudda_take_sic 6 years, 3 months ago
Why should smart tourists coming to our shores for sun, sand and sea have to incur the outrageous room rates, and ridiculous food & beverage costs, charged by monstrous hotels of a different era. Atlantis and Baha Mar, with their enormous cost structures, are simply dinosaurs, destined to be forever unprofitable and eventually extinct. The ever increasing chasm between the haves and have nots is a global phenomena which means there will be fewer and fewer tourists who can afford to help support the unsustainable cost structures of dinosaur hotels. And to think dimwitted Minnis has proposed government buy the Grand Lucayan Hotel. Such an investment would be another flushing of our VAT dollars down the proverbial toilet...much like all of the other government owned corporations and entities. What a joke!
ThisIsOurs 6 years, 3 months ago
Truly, he could take that same money and build an island village where guests could rent out small island style houses. Something like a residential eco marina village. Each house could be assigned a caretaker or even better you allow the caretaker to make an investment in the house. You could create an entire eco system around the village, designing the complimentary services and experiences that you want to provide guests, from entertainment to products and then put out RFPs for vendors. And creative entertainment, including interactive, not the same old same old they could get anywhere. Im not saying thats the best thing to do with the money but its more appealing than maintenance of an aging structure.
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