The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

ATLANTIS'S May 2012 occupancy levels were "seven percentage points" higher than those achieved in the comparative period last year, with the Memorial Day weekend generating "record revenue" for the Paradise Island resort,

George Markantonis, Kerzner International (Bahamas) president and managing director, told Tribune Business that more than 3,200 persons attended the Kenny Chesney Concert over the weekend, while Michael Douglas had agreed to bring his Celebrity Invitational tournament back to Paradise Island next year.

"Memorial Day for us was a record revenue weekend despite the bad weather," Mr Markantonis said. "We were able to have a very successful concert, over 3,200 attended, with Kenny Chesney playing well over his allotted time."

Atlantis and the One & Only Ocean Club, together with Paradise Island and the rest of the Bahamian tourism product, will also benefit from the extra publicity generated from the Michael Douglas Celebrity Invitational's scheduled screening on the Golf Channel on June 7.

Disclosing that Atlantis would follow the same formula - concert and golf tournament - when the event returned next year, Mr Markantonis said the third episode of Big Break - filmed at the One & Only Ocean Club - was screened at the same time as the Michael Douglas Celebrity Invitational was being played.

"We ran in the mid-90s," Mr Markantonis said of the occupancy percentages achieved by Atlantis over the Memorial Day weekend. Kerzner International had anticipated the bad weather might impact some travellers' plans, but he added that for the month as a whole the resort "ran somewhere in the region of 7 percentage points higher occupancy for this May versus May last year".