The Tribune

• Hotels chief wants Canada, Europe return

• But brands 1m stopover goal ‘achievable’

• Small groups now aiding ‘domino’ growth

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The hotel industry’s top executive yesterday said that despite “the perfect storm” driving the sector’s recovery he remains concerned about the 15-20 percent of visitor source markets that have yet to re-open.

Robert Sands, the Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association’s (BHTA) president, told Tribune Business it was critical that Canada and European countries outside the UK fully permit outbound travel so that this nation can reduce its over-dependence on the US for post-COVID visitors.

Branding the 1m stopover visitor target set for 2021 by Dionisio D’Aguilar, minister of tourism and aviation, as “achievable”, he said: “I think we also have to be concerned that maybe 15-20 percent of our generating markets have not really allowed outbound travel; some places in Europe, and some places in Canada.

“The UK is just getting back to some semblance of normalcy. We are seeing a lot of demand coming primarily from the US this summer, and if other countries can get into gear - we’ve heard from the UK, but haven’t heard from other European countries and Canada - then those numbers can continue to grow.”

Mr D’Aguilar yesterday branded the continued reluctance of many Bahamians to become vaccinated against COVID-19 as “the elephant in the room” for tourism’s recovery and Mr Sands, while not using that language, acknowledged that it remains “a potential impediment” to the industry’s full revival and that of the wider economy.

Other obstacles include the possibility that The Bahamas may be struck by a major hurricane yet again, while Mr Sands added that the hotel and tourism industry is also “keeping an eye on” the level of airlift into the destination.

“Not that it’s been a problem yet,” he said, “but the ability for additional airlift to be put in place to meet the demand..... continued efficient, adequate airlift. The airlines are responding, but certainly the more we get the better the pricing structure can be.”

As for Mr D’Aguilar’s one million stopover visitor target, the BHTA chief told Tribune Business: “I think it’s pretty achievable barring any unforeseen impact. It’s achievable and a reasonable target.”

Mr Sands based his optimism on the fact hotels are presently seeing a booking pace that exceeds 2019 levels, while “there is a tranche of business we have not seen before with home porting, and a significant number of those people are using hotel rooms.

“The cruising and boat sector is getting back to capacity, and those persons are using multiple hotels throughout the archipelago,” he added. “All those three things together augur well for one million stopover visitors, although we have recognise that still falls short of the record.

“Yet it’s a very positive trend, and if it continues in the way it has the one million figure can be achieved. The other thing that is notable is a number of properties are beginning to see smaller groups and conventions coming back to the destination, even in the timeframe as we speak.

“Multiple sectors are continuing to be on this upturn. I think it’s fair to say the recovery is taking place on a weekly basis, and a number of properties and hospitality entities are encouraged by the fact their projections are ahead of where they had budgeted for business this year.”

Mr Sands said the continued roll-out of COVID vaccinations in the US meant a significant number of The Bahamas’ visitors are already fully inoculated, while the health protocols this nation has put in place “demonstrates we’re serious about keeping them as safe as we possibly can”.

“All these things work as a perfect storm to help the snowballing, domino effect of business coming to this nation,” he added. “All of these things are aligning to combine into what we are seeing. Absolutely things are moving in the right direction.”

Wesley Ferguson, the Bahamas Taxi Cab Union’s president, also agreed that Mr D’Aguilar was “on point” with his prediction that the country will see one million stopover visitors for 2021.

He said: “We are quite excited about the cruise ships coming back to our ports. We have the schedule for the cruise ships visiting our ports now, and between two to three days we have regular cruise ships visiting our shores.”

The Royal Caribbean and Crystal Cruises home porting initiative has been hailed as a success and a much-needed injection into the tourism economy that collapsed under the weight of the global pandemic.

Mr Ferguson added: “As we get the forecast on visitor arrivals from the commercial airlines, we have noticed that is steadily climbing”, suggesting there had been a 300 percent increase over the last month. “As the weekend progresses the numbers also are inflating to sometimes over 4,000 people from just about 1,000 during the week,” he added.

“Minister D’Aguilar could be on point for the one million visitors for this year because we don’t anticipate a slow period any more, as it might have been in previous years, as tourist travel would have been seasonal. Because everybody is just coming off this COVID-19 lockdown, a lot of people are just going to travel. Unscheduled, out-of-season travelling will be a thing we will be experiencing for the next couple of months.”

Vernon Moss, Sandyport Beach Resort’s general manager, added that he is booked at over 80 percent occupancy on the weekends as “business is pretty good”.

“I can see one million tourists for 2021,” Mr Moss said. “The home porting is good on weekends because we get a lot of business for that one night, too. They come in on a Friday and checkout on a Saturday to go downtown to take their cruise.

“We are getting tourism back on track. Everyone is just excited to be back to work. All of the vendors are happy, all of the restaurants on Cable Beach are coming back up. We just want to forget about that horrible 2020 and move on.”