Although the figures are still being manipulated, the Director General of Tourism Vernice Walkine said she is confident that revenue derived from tourism will reach $2 billion for 2005, the first time in history.
Revenue is calculated based on the actual count of visitors provided by the Department of Immigration and the tally of average stopover visitor expenditure gleaned from the Ministry of Tourism’s Exit Survey of between 10,000 and 15,000 persons annually.
“The actual count of tourists is in, the 5 million plus visitors reported over the last couple of weeks, but the calculation of average stopover spending takes much longer. However, based on the first half figures for average stopover spend we are confident that the final revenue figure will exceed $2 billion dollars.”
Just weeks ago, tourism officials announced that visitor arrivals for last year had exceeded 2005, for the second consecutive year, a feat about which they were overwhelmingly encouraged.
A cruise visitor spends $65 per visit, while stopover visitor spends over $1,000 per stay.
“We shouldn’t be surprised in a year when we reached an historic visitor level for the second year in a row, that we also would achieve a record for tourism revenue,” said Ms. Walkine.
“The only reason it didn’t happen last year is that the five million visitors then were built on the increase in lower spending cruise visitors. This year, cruise visitors actually declined by 0.3%. This means that the five million visitors in 2005 are built on an increase in the higher spending stopover visitors,” she added.
A total of 5,050,759 persons visited the Bahamas in 2005, a one percent increase over 2004’s 5,003,967.
Tourism officials considered the increase over 2004 surprising, given that a number of islands were devastated by hurricanes. They conceded that even with the successful “rebound” there is still a need for more work in certain areas, such as the restoration of the room inventory lost on Grand Bahama in 2004.
In the Family Islands that saw the number of visitors decline in 2005, the Ministry of Tourism’s goal is now to find “innovative” ways to restore and grow the numbers.
Figures released by the Ministry of Tourism show that there were 3,349,998 cruise visitors in 2005. These cruise visitors spent $183.2 million compared to $185.8 in 2004.
In contrast, final figures provided by Immigration show that there were 1,602,159 stopovers visiting The Bahamas in 2005 representing a 2.6% increase in stopovers and a 3.2% increase in visitor nights, or the length of stay multiplied by the number of stopover visitors.
Ms. Walkine was also bolstered in her belief about a projected $2 billion in tourism revenue by the final stopover figure reported by the Department of Immigration for the last half of 2005. In that period, 710,373 stopovers visited The Bahamas compared to 663,740 in 2004. These 46,633 additional stopovers represent an increase of seven percent.
Surveys conducted by the Ministry of Tourism show that in the first half of 2005 stopovers on average spent $105 dollars, more than in 2004. In 2005 they spent $1,185 dollars per visitor. This represented a 9.7% increase in average spend per visitor, says Ms. Walkine.
“If this increase in expenditure is repeated for the last two quarters of 2005 we will go well over the 2 billion dollar mark,” she said.
The figures released today adopt a very conservative approach by assuming the same average spend per stopover for the second half of 2005 as was spent in 2004, according to tourism officials. Stopover spending for all of 2005 is forecast to be $1.841 billion compared to $1.693 billion in 2004.
To complete the totals for arrivals and revenue, day visitors and transit visitors are also factored into the figures.
Preliminary results from the 14 large hotels in Nassau report an 11.1% increase in hotel room revenue along with $11 increase in the average daily room rate or the hotel room revenue divided by the room nights sold.
The Ministry of Tourism’s sample of Family Island hotels also shows an 11.3% increase in room revenue and a $19 increase in average daily room rate. Similarly, a sample of Grand Bahama island hotels shows a 21.6% increase in hotel room revenue and a $20 increase in average daily room rate.
These hotel figures match the trend in the average spend per visitor figures of the first half of 2005. Therefore, the excellent hotel figures for the second half of 2005 bodes well for a similar increase in average spend per stopover visitor for the second half of 2005.
The director general was particularly pleased with the Grand Bahama Island figures.
“What is really encouraging are the Grand Bahama Island figures. The first half of 2005’s average spending per stopover is also showing a significant increase in spending with average spend per visitor jumping by $71 or by 12.4% from $665 per GBI stopover for January to June 2004 to $736 in 2005,” she said.
Final tourism revenue figures will be released around the beginning of April 2006.
The Bahama Journal
