Bahamas Hotel Association President Mr. McVean pointed out that preliminary results show that current occupancy levels could be the lowest in many years.
“September for Nassau and Paradise Island hotels as a whole was the worst September in almost living memory or certainly in the last 20 years,” Mr. McVean said.
He continued, “Occupancy levels weren’t good in the beginning and they didn’t pick up at any point in time at all. Even though I haven’t seen the final figures from Atlantis, I think if you took out their numbers, which are typically higher than the average, the overall figures would look even worse.”
The BHA president quickly pointed out, however, that the preliminary findings are based on reports from hotel association members, as final figures have not yet been accumulated.
He attributed the unusually low occupancy rates to back-to-school preparations in the United States, lower levels of group visits to the destination and reduced travel as a result of memorial activities associated with the September 11, 2001 tragedy.
Mr. McVean said it could take up to several years for this trend to be reversed.
“I think there is this psyche in the minds of our US market, which is particularly coming out of the north east of the US, in regards to the memorialising of 9/11 two years ago and I think that’s something that we are going to have to face for a number of years to come,” he said.
Despite the dismal figures forecasted for September, hoteliers remain optimistic about a rebound during the winter season, the traditional peak period for travel to The Bahamas.
He indicated that future bookings into early 2004 are on par with levels experienced in previous years.
“Going into the winter months and certainly for the property I run (Comfort Suites Paradise Island) the key times are the Christmas and New Year’s period and February, March and April and they are looking ‘okay’,” Mr. McVean said.
“I think people are booking further ahead, but they’re not booking in the short term,” he said.
The BHA president said more aggressive marketing “to remind the world that The Bahamas is still here”, a rebound in the US economy and more group travel to the destination would be necessary to realise an improvement in tourism figures for the remainder of the year.
Director General of Tourism Vincent Vanderpool Wallace told the Bahama Journal last week that officials in the Ministry of Tourism were giving renewed focus to attracting more tourists to The Bahamas during the traditionally slow months of the year
By Darrin Culmer, The Bahama Journal
