The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Stopover visitors for December 2022, which included the peak Christmas and New Year's tourism period, more than doubled year-over-year to beat the industry's pre-COVID performance by almost 13 percent.

The Central Bank of The Bahamas, unveiling its January 2023 economic update yesterday, disclosed that higher spending air arrivals exceeded pre-pandemic levels as they increased from 100,000 to 200,000 year-over-year for December 2022.

"Monthly data revealed that the tourism sector sustained its robust growth trajectory in January, with output exceeding pre-pandemic levels amid relaxed COVID-19 conditions and pent-up demand for travel in key source markets," the Central Bank said. Total visitor arrivals for December 2022, which includes cruise passengers as well as air arrivals, rose by 80 percent year-over-year.

Cruise passenger volumes increased to 700,000 from 400,000 in December 2021, representing a 75 percent gain as the sector continued to rebound from the COVID restrictions that were in place during the prior year. As a result, 2022's performance benefited from being up against a relatively weak comparative period.

"Official data provided by the Ministry of Tourism showed that total passenger arrivals expanded to 900,000 in December from 500,000 visitors in the corresponding period of 2021," the Central Bank said. "Specifically, the dominant sea segment almost doubled to 700,000, vis-à-vis 400,000 visitors in the previous year. In addition, air traffic grew to 200,000 from 100,000 a year earlier, surpassing pre-pandemic levels and representing 112.9 percent of air arrivals recorded in 2019.

"Disaggregated by major ports of entry, total arrivals to New Providence increased to 400,000 from 200,000 in the prior year. Underlying this outcome, the air and sea segments both advanced to 100,000 and 300,000 visitors from 90,000 and 100,000, respectively, in 2022. Further, foreign arrivals to the Family Islands amounted to 400,000 visitors compared to 300,000 in the previous year, as air and sea visitors rose to 30,000 and 400,000 respectively.

"Similarly, Grand Bahama attracted 60,000 visitors, exceeding the 12,355 registered in the prior year, attributed to gains in both the air and sea segments." Total tourist arrivals were up 233.3 percent, more than tripling compared to 2021, according to the Central Bank. Air arrivals for the 2022 full-year rose by 65.8 percent, while their sea counterparts more than quadrupled by 355.6 percent due to the fact that the cruise industry was shut down until mid-2021.

"On an annual basis, total arrivals rebounded to seven million - the first time since 2019 - from 2.1m in 2021, when a 17.1 percent growth was recorded. Contributing to this outturn, air arrivals advanced to 1.5m, extending the 111.9 percent gain in the prior year, bolstered by increases in all major source markets. Similarly, sea arrivals recovered to 5.5m visitors, following an 11.8 percent decline in 2021.

"The positive trend persisted, as the most recent data provided by the Nassau Airport Development Company (NAD) revealed that total departures - net of domestic passengers - grew by two-thirds to 128,165 in January vis-à-vis the comparative period last year. In particular, US departures expanded by two-thirds to 107,237, while non-US departures nearly doubled to 20,928 from the corresponding month of 2022.

"In the short-term vacation rental market, data provided by AirDNA further cemented trends. Specifically, for the month of January, total room nights sold rose to 147,633 from 113,559 a year earlier. Underlying this outturn, the occupancy rates for both entire place and hotel comparable listings increased to 56.6 percent and 55.7 percent, respectively, compared to 50.8 percent and 47.9 percent in the prior year," the Central Bank added.

"Further, price indicators showed that, year-over-year, the average daily room rate (ADR) for entire place grew by 8.6 percent to $524.73 and hotel comparable listings by 4.9 percent to $186.54." Elsewhere, the Central Bank said surging global oil prices and energy costs were responsible for Bahamian inflation, as measured by the All-Bahamas Retail Price Index, near doubling year-over-year to 5.6 percent.

"Average domestic consumer price inflation, as measured by the All Bahamas Retail Price Index, rose to 5.6 percent in 2022 from 2.9 percent in 2021 on account of the pass-through effects of higher global oil prices," it added. "Specifically, average costs increased for recreation and culture by 12.8 percent after registering a reduction in the previous year.

"Further, average inflation accelerated for food and non-alcoholic beverages (13.5 percent), restaurants and hotels (12.4 percent), transport (12.3 percent) and communications (8 percent). Similarly, average cost increases quickened for health (5.7 percent) and housing, water, gas, electricity and other fuels (3.3 percent), while the decline in average prices for miscellaneous goods and services slowed to 0.4 percent from 0.7 percent the previous year.

"Providing some offset, the average inflation moderated for clothing and footwear (2.9 percent), education (1.6 percent) and furnishing, household and equipment (1.2 percent). Further, average costs for alcohol beverages, tobacco and narcotics decreased by 0.5 percent, following a gain of 5.2 percent in 2021."