The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL 

Tribune Business Editor 

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMIAN resort occupancies, which fell by between 5-15 percent during “a really soft” fall 2024, are now rebounding towards levels “pretty close or equal to” last year’s for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Robert Sands, the Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association’s (BHTA) president, told Tribune Business the country’s largest industry is “seeing pick up” for the two holidays that traditionally kick-off the peak winter season following a slowdown that began in late June and carried through the four months to end-October.

While room rates and yields remained flat compared to 2023, he said the drop-off in occupancies was likely attributable to the damage inflicted in major source markets such as Florida by hurricanes Helene and Milton, combined with the impact on traveller confidence and disruption to airports/ aviation caused by these weather-related events.

Mr Sands said uncertainty, and the ‘wait and see’ approach typically adopted by many Americans in the run-up to a presidential election, may also have impacted travel demand for The Bahamas during this period.

However, based on bookings to-date, both he and Joy Jibrilu, the Nassau/ Paradise Island Promotion Board’s chief executive, told this newspaper that tourism business volumes for the Thanksgiving and Christmas/New Year festive period should be “at least pretty close or equal to” 2023 which produced record-breaking numbers for the industry.

“Yes, pick up is happening for that period and obviously festive,” Mr Sands said in reference to Thanksgiving and Christmas. “We are seeing pick up for Thanksgiving and the festive period.... Coming out of a very soft October, and even softer September, the pick up quite frankly is encouraging for that time period.

“I think were getting close to the levels of 2023, and the lead time for bookings is still a short window. I think we should see some occupancies close to what was achieved last year. I think we’re going to be pretty close or equal to what we may have achieved in terms of occupancy levels.

“It’s not only occupancy itself but rates, so we have to see how yields for that period turn out. They were extremely strong [in 2023]. I think it’s fair to say, as we look at the last two weeks in November, they are very respectable comparisons and it continues to grow,” he added. “Festive is always, and when I speak of festive I’m talking about December 20 onwards, very strong. That’s not a difficult time period to fill.”

Asked just how soft recent months have been, Mr Sands replied: “I would say that occupancies varied from approximately 5-15 percent [down] at different resorts compared to last year. That started at the end of June. We had a low July, August, September, and certainly October, but now we are coming out of it.

“We’ll see what happens in November. We may be off but not by much. From a rate perspective, combined there was no growth. It was more an occupancy issue and no real growth in rates. There was no growth. We saw that last through July, August, September and October, but it’s reversed itself.”

The BHTA president was backed by Mrs Jibrilu, who told Tribune Business that this year’s September-October period - traditionally the slowest months in the Bahamian tourism calendar - had interrupted the progress this nation has made in reducing the impact of “seasonality” on the industry.

“It’s been really soft, and the softness has been felt across the board,” she said of those two months. “It’s not just the hotels; it trickles down to the taxi drivers and suppliers. We’re really pleased to see what’s ahead.

“At the beginning of the year we went through the travel advisory. It impacted travel then, and to have two weak months.... We were doing well as a destination, getting rid of seasonality, but to have the bumps this year it’s good to get back on track.

“We are looking at a very good result for Thanksgiving and most of our hotels are reporting a robust or strong December, so it’s very good news after the slow September and October. The fact we are rebounding so swiftly in November and December is great news.”

Mr Sands, meanwhile, said the room rates that the industry achieves are key to just how successful the Thanksgiving and Christmas/New Year holiday periods will be for Bahamian resorts. “The question is: Can we yield?” he told this newspaper. “Occupancy is not the issue. It’s can we get the type of returns that we’re actually looking for in the destination?

“I think so. The demand is very strong. During the last two weeks, certainly for New Year, we will be sold out. Very strong. But let’s not count our chickens before they are hatched. With no unforeseen external issues I think Bahamian tourism should have a very strong Thanksgiving and a strong festive season.”

Both Mr Sands and Mrs Jibrilu attributed the soft 2024 fall period to the impact of devastating hurricanes that hit key source markets such as Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas, which made persons “nervous” about travelling to The Bahamas and the wider region. The Nassau/Paradise Island Promotion Board chief said this nation was not an outlier as other Caribbean states suffered similar trends.

“I think we need to put things in context,” Mr Sands said. “There were a number of contributing elements to that. Number one, the pending US presidential election. Number two, there were a number of weather-related incidents during that period that resulted in airports being closed in source markets for different periods of time. There was some tentativeness in the market until the US got through their difficult period.”

The duo also credited sporting and events-driven tourism for stimulating visitor interest and driving resort bookings with the ‘Battle 4 Atlantis’ and ‘Baha Mar Hoops’ tournaments at Thanksgiving. Mrs Jibrilu said: “The spillover is Comfort Suites picks up a lot of rooms, so the trickle-down effect is very important.”