The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Atlantis “exceeded our forward bookings” by 15 per cent for Monday’s Martin Luther King Day holiday in the US, its top executive yesterday predicting January will prove “a great booking month”.

George Markantonis, Brookfield Hospitality’s president and managing director, told Tribune Business that the Paradise Island resort was “pacing ahead of last year” for bookings for both January and February 2015.

Explaining that January was traditionally Atlantis’s leading month for vacation bookings, Mr Markantonis said the resort also expected March to be “extremely strong”.

And he expressed high hopes for the $250 ‘air credit’ promotion that is designed to drive bookings for the peak winter season across the entire Nassau/Paradise Island tourism industry, disclosing that up to 30 per cent of Atlantis’s future bookings “take advantage of this”.

“On Martin Luther King Day we exceeded our forward bookings by 15 per cent,” Mr Markantonis said. “And today, we launched a major online marketing promotion that we think will ensure we have a good pick up in the rest of the month of January.”

Atlantis’s top executive added that the ‘air credit’ initiative, a joint promotion between the Ministry of Tourism and Nassau/Paradise Island Promotions Board, was “definitely helping us”.

The promotion offers persons who book an ‘air-inclusive’ vacation package for a minimum four-night stay on New Providence an ‘instant savings’ of $250 on their air fare.

The ‘booking window’ for the promotion covers the key December 29-February 3 period, when Bahamian resorts take the bulk of their annual reservations. And it covers the peak winter period of January 4-April 30, with so-called ‘blackout’ dates lasting from March 29 to April 11, 2015.

The promotion is again intended to stimulate demand among US and Canadian tourists for a Bahamian vacation by reducing the costs of ‘accessing’ this nation.

“We find as many as 30 per cent of our future bookings take advantage of this,” Mr Markantonis told Tribune Business.

“We’re waiting to see, but we’re very optimistic this is going to be a great booking month.”

He added that while Atlantis’s group business was “still evolving, it’s looking very strong” with the booking pace for both 2015 and 2016 ahead of 2014.

“We’re working on numerous initiatives to make sure it stays that way,” Mr Markantonis added.

He told Tribune Business that Value-Added Tax (VAT) implementation had been relatively seamless despite Atlantis’ multiple revenue streams, although little guest feedback on the new tax had been received to-date.

“VAT implementation was relatively smooth for us,” Mr Markantonis said. “Our team did a great job in getting us ready. We continue to fine tune it every day.

“This is a complex business, and has numerous revenue streams that need to be reviewed, but in general it’s gone relatively smoothly.”

Mr Markantonis said Atlantis’s 2015 prospects would depend largely on the market impact made by Baha Mar when it opens on March 27.

“We hope that we’re going to see growth for 2015,” he explained. “I think a lot of that is going to be depending on what happens when Baha Mar opens. We’ll just have to wait and see, and focus on what we can work on.

“Our interest is going to be making sure airlift levels are maintained, and the ideal would be if Baha Mar does attract a whole new incremental group of tourists to the Bahamas. It will be good for everybody.”

The Bahamas, of course, is stepping very much into the ‘tourism unknown’ with Baha Mar, the key question being whether it will grow the market for high-end visitors or split the existing business with Atlantis.