Coming off a strong winter and early spring performance, the Nassau/Paradise Island hotel sector experienced a flat May in comparison to previous years, president of the Bahamas Hotel Association (BHA) Jeremy MacVean told The Tribune, with overall numbers for the destiation impacted, in part, by the closure of the Sheratton Grand Hotel for renovations.
Overall revenue for the 14 major hotels in the destitaion was up marginally, by $300,000, when compared to the previous May period.
”As is typical in the life of the tourism industry, May falls between a busy winter and summer season. The numbers were reasonable, with modest growth seen,” said Mr MacVean.
Based on statistics coming from the Ministry of Tourism, the figures for April, 2004, show the average daily room rate (ADRR) for The Bahamas at $191.43, a slight decrease over 2003 levels, which stood at $199.79. The ADRR for the Nassau/Paradise Island destinations was $228 in 2004, 0.2 per cent improvement over 2003 at $227.58. Grand Bahamas stood at $93.44, with the Family Islands at $189.77, an 11.7 per cent increase over $169.93 for the same period in 2003.
Mr MacVean said the Environmental Management Systems seminar run by the Caribbean Alliance for Sustainable Tourism (CAST), had a nice mix of persons, with 16 people, including hoteliers from throughout The Bahamas, educators and students, taking part in the workshop.
With the group working on the Hotel Enviornmental Leadership programme, he said there was a ”good vibe” coming from the workshop, particularly with the fact that participants have the necessary information on enviornmental issues and sustainability to help their various sectors and the wider community.
Through conversations coming out of the workshop and subsequent e-mails, the participants have the support to take the issues to the next level, he said. ”Rather than having one or two hotels doing the right thing, the programme is good for the entire population, for the hotel sector, for ourselves, and for everyone.”
Programme facilitator was Deirde Shurland, executive director of CAST.
Source: Yolanda Deleveaux, The Tribune
