The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor and NATARIO McKENZIE Tribune Business Reporter nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net THE Bahamian tourism industry is set to "exceed" 2012 first quarter/Easter performance forecasts, with some hotels seeing 10 per cent year-over-year growth and inbound airlift capacity up 12 per cent for the first half. Describing the sector's performance as "very solid", Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace, minister of tourism and aviation, said his ministry was "scrambling" to find hotel rooms to accommodate the influx of visitors expected for the Carifta swimming championships, which are set to take place over Easter. Pointing out that heightened demand had also boosted Bahamian resort room rates, as well as occupancy levels, Mr Vanderpool-Wallace told Tribune Business that the sector's performance would in some months exceed 2008, the main year it is benchmarking against. "Particularly over the Easter period, we are scrambling for rooms," Mr Vanderpool-Wallace told Tribune Business. "A good example of that is that we are trying to assist the Carifta people here, who are finding themselves crowded out, not only on available rooms but on price. "The demand is really strong. We are likely to have a very good first quarter, and exceed the forecasts in a number of areas that we made only in November last year. We'll see how Easter turns out, but it's looking every promising." Atlantis, for example, is currently running occupancy levels of up to 90 per cent, as the Bahamian tourism industry enjoys its peak season in the run-up to Easter. The increased demand, particular from leisure travellers, is pushing up rates and contributing to the room shortage being encountered by Carifta competitors and their entourages. "We know we have about 12 per cent more [airline] seats in the marketplace for the first six months because we expect the demand to be great, and we will see to what extent we exceed or meet that number," Mr Vanderpool-Wallace told Tribune Business. "There is no doubt that the deepest part of the recession is behind us, and this month we will have some months that exceed 2008 on a month-to-month basis, which is really the benchmark measure to see if things are falling into place." Mr Vanderpool-Wallace said the Carifta participants were having difficulty in finding rooms even though the event had been booked "a couple of years ago". "Some of the hotels are already full," he said. "We've been asking for some additional rooms at some places and can't get them, and so we're going to do very well [for Easter]." The minister described Carifta, both the swimming and athletics formats, as "a great example of sports tourism" that he was seeking to bring to the Bahamas. Visitor numbers were boosted by family members and coaches of competitors. "What we are also aware of is that room demand by those people is not for the high-end rooms, so we should fill in the lower and mid-end rooms. It's a wonderful filler for some of those rooms that we have in the Bahamas," Mr Vanderpool-Wallace added. Meanwhile, both Sandals Royal Bahamian and Baha Mar's existing hotel interests are recording strong occupancy levels for March 2012 heading into the Easter season. Sandals Royal Bahamian's general manager, Patrick Drake, told Tribune Business the resort was recording strong occupancies for the month, with all the available floors on the recently-opened Balmoral Tower, formerly the Manor Building, full. Sandals invested almost $21 million into the restoration of the 145 room building. "All the rooms we have open there are full. We can't complain. Two floors aren't open, so we have 105 rooms open. Things are looking good going forward," Mr Drake told Tribune Business. Sandals Royal Bahamian is running with occupancy levels in the high 80-90 per cents, a resort spokesman confirmed to Tribune Business, with occupancy levels expected to peak at 100 per cent nearing the end of March, and 95 per cent between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Robert Sands, Baha Mar's senior vice-president of administration and external affairs, speaking on occupancies levels at its properties, told Tribune Business: "It's been pretty strong for the first two weeks of March, and we'll stay that way for the rest of the month, particularly the Wyndham hotel. "The Wyndham is doing really well right now. We have strong occupancies for all hotels. We have seen growth of over 10 per cent over last year."