The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A Grand Bahama resort generated “about 20 percent more revenue” prior to the “four hurricanes” that have struck the island since 2016, its senior executive has revealed.

Magnus Alnebeck, Pelican Bay’s general manager, told Tribune Business that the quartet of events - Hurricane Matthew, the Grand Bahama Shipyard’s loss of its major dry dock, Hurricane Dorian and COVID-19 - all were likely to have inflicted “equal damage” on the island’s already-ailing economy with each occurring when businesses were “already on our knees”.

Noting that the summer months have been “normal for Grand Bahama post-Dorian and post-COVID, with very little activity”, he added: “If you go back to years like 2015, it’s a drastic downturn. Then we did about 20 percent more in revenue than we do now at least.”

Pelican Bay typically attracts much corporate and group business, including from Grand Bahama Shipyard with temporary and transient workers, plus executives, flying in, and Mr Alnebeck told this newspaper: “I say Grand Bahama has had four hurricanes since 2015.

“First we had Hurricane Matthew, then we had the big dry dock in the Shipyard that split. That was the second hurricane. Then we had Hurricane Dorian, which was catastrophic, especially for the loss of life, and then we had Hurricane COVID. I wouldn’t be surprised if those four events had equal damage for Grand Bahama’s economy.

“The problem is all of them happened when we were already on our knees still trying to get up again. The people who are left here are pretty thick skinned. Young people may have given up and gone on to brighter and better things in Nassau, Exuma and Eleuthera, where there are more opportunities, but the people still here are survivors.”

Turning to recent months, Mr Alnebeck added: “Pelican Bay is doing OK. We had a good July. August was a bit weak, but that’s normal, and now we’re just hoping to get through the storm season without any problems. There’s a lot less travel in August and September, and by the time we get to October we start to see more things happening.

“July, we finished north of and above 50 percent occupancy, which is good for Pelican Bay. In August, we’re just going to make 40 percent with a bit of luck but, if not, we will be in the high 30 percents.” As for the Grand Lucayan, the Pelican Bay chief added: “The Government is realising it’s not the easiest place to sell.

“Selling a hotel that has not been fully open since 2016, and a destination that has gone through what we’ve gone through, they’re not the easiest things to sell. The focus needs to be on getting someone in who has the financial muscle and know how to make it successful and drive demand. That should be the focus as opposed to the selling price. As a country, just look at what we have lost in economic activity since 2016 by having the Grand Lucayan closed. It’s enormous.”

Robert Sands, the Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association’s (BHTA) president, told Tribune Business earlier this week that the traditional seasonality in New Providence’s year-round tourism cycle is starting to “level out” with the typical September drop-off “not as pronounced and not as deep” compared to pre-COVID years.

Resort occupancies for September are around 10 percent ahead of prior year comparatives, with the industry “seeing less dips and valleys” in the tourism calendar. Usually the slowest month of the year, due to a combination of factors such as children returning to school and coinciding with the peak of hurricane season, Mr Sands added that while September’s advance bookings could “wash down” to a 7.5 percent year-over-year jump the data still showed the industry continues to improve.

Predicting that the hotel and tourism industry will “reach a point of stabilisation” in 2024, with stopover visitor numbers matching pre-pandemic levels, Mr Sands told this newspaper that achieving significant growth will become harder from next year onwards with The Bahamas having to rely more on efficiency gains and increased room supply as still-closed resorts come back online.

While the British Colonial’s anticipated re-opening before year-end 2023 will help with the latter objective, he added that The Bahamas must “continue to remain relevant in terms of value for money” that it provides overseas visitors by tackling the cost and ease of doing business, including the reliability and price of Bahamas Power & Light’s (BPL) electricity supply.

With The Bahamas poised to enter the two slowest months in its tourism calendar, Mr Sands told Tribune Business: “There’s certainly a slowdown, but it’s not as pronounced and not as deep as in previous years. We are still seeing growth year-on-year when we compare comparative months, September and October, and advance bookings.

“We continue to see growth throughout the rest of the year in terms of advance bookings. While we don’t have a definite position on the booking window until the end of a particular period, certainly I would say in terms of percentage points we are anywhere around 10 percent [up] for occupancy compared to last year for September.

“It could wash down to 7.5 percent, but advance bookings are currently at that level for September and October. Bear in mind those numbers are based on everything remaining equal.”