The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Government and tourism industry executives are arguing it is too early to use incentives to reboot the country’s number one industry, with one warning against “diluting existing business”.

Robert Sands, pictured, Baha Mar’s senior vice-president of government and external affairs, told Tribune Business that The Bahamas could not afford to undercut “a brand that remains very strong” with room rate and airline ticket discounts in a bid to immediately generate business in COVID-19’s aftermath.

“That has not even come up at this point in time. Certainly, that’s not the way we look at it in the first instance. The Bahamas brand, even in COVID-19, remains very strong,” he said, when asked if the industry is looking to employ incentives as part of its marketing tool. “So there will be a new normal but business as usual.

“Where there are opportunities to create incentives they will be looked at very carefully, very seriously, to ensure we drive incremental business not dilute existing business.”

Mr Sands was backed by Dionisio D’Aguilar, minister of tourism and aviation, who agreed that the timing was not right for The Bahamas to provide incentives and discounts given that it has a premium, high-end position to maintain.

“Not yet,” he responded to this newspaper. “We have to find our way through this new normal and ramp-up in a measured way to work through any kinks in the system. I don’t think anyone wants us to go that way right now, so let us work through and manage the protocols and then we can look at incentives and such like.”

Mr Sands, meanwhile, said Baha Mar had yet to set a date for when its phased re-opening will begin. Instead, he said the Cable Beach mega resort is focusing on implementing the new health protocols to its satisfaction and that of its guests and staff.

He acknowledged that the COVID-19 health protocols will result in less visitors being permitted in areas such as casinos, restaurants and other public areas due to the need to maintain social distancing and other requirements.

“There will be capacity adjustments in terms of social distancing in the restaurants and casino,” he added, warning that it was “too early to assume” there would be a negative financial impact for Bahamian hotels and their owners/operators.

“Don’t forget the industry will do a number of things to mitigate against that, including extending dining times. Maybe restaurants can extend on to balconies and patios too, so we have incremental seating available for social distancing for food and beverage,” Mr Sands said.

The Baha Mar executive, though, warned that the protocols and measures designed to protect tourists and resort staff from COVID-19 will only work if all abide by them as no single weak link can be afforded.

“We will be as good as long as we marshall and police the protocols to the best of our ability,” Mr Sands added, “and persons adhere to them as well. It’s going to be critical to the health and safety of the tourism industry, and recovery of our industry, going forward.”

Assessing COVID-19’s impact on tourism and its related sectors, the industry’s 122-page Tourism Readiness and Recovery Plan said aircraft movements at Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) dropped by 34 percent in March 2020 as the lockdown associated with the pandemic began to bite.

“Small island developing states such as The Bahamas have been significantly impacted by the pandemic due to the heavy dependence on tourism, particularly on gross domestic product (GDP) and employment, and the limited alternative sources of foreign exchange revenues to service external debt and pay for imports,” the tourism plan said. 

“In The Bahamas, the immediate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has already been felt through a complete cessation of visitors, and the resulting impacts on airplane groundings, hotel closures, suspension of cruise line trips and other such actions. This is deeply concerning because tourism accounts for roughly 50 percent of the country’s GDP, and nearly 70 percent of all persons in The Bahamas are directly or indirectly employed in the tourism sector.

“As of May 10, 2020, more than 25,000 Bahamians were estimated to have been laid off or lost their income due to the crisis, with unemployment in the near term estimated to exceed 30 percent. The Government’s COVID-19 response has cost more than $120m to-date, despite a 50 percent reduction in tax revenues in April 2020, and post-Hurricane Dorian recovery efforts still continue. The local economy is estimated to shrink by as much as 14 percent to 20 percent overall in 2020.”