business@tribunemedia.net
THURSDAY, APRIL 6, 2023
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‘Perfect storm of demand’ in 10-15% hotel rate rise
Association’s (BHTA) president, told Tribune Business that an increase in how long stopover visitors spend in this nation - anywhere from one to two days more - is also making “a significant difference” to the industry’s performance as it enters the peak Easter holiday period. With many hotels either matching or exceeding their performance projections through the 2023 first quarter, he added that
the stresses imposed by COVID-19 had “opened our eyes” by highlighting how the industry can operate more efficiently and control costs. Suggesting that the tourism and resort industries are “moving just beyond recovery”, Mr Sands nevertheless told this newspaper that a full COVID rebound will not be achieved until shuttered properties such as the British Colonial and Melia
Nassau Beach bring their room inventories back online. And he suggested that “an analysis” must be done to determine whether Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA), its runways, terminal buildings and other amenities should be expanded “to sustain the level of growth” in tourism without causing any negative impact on its ability to service passenger flows.
ROBERT SANDS The Easter holiday weekend typically marks the end, as well as the peak, of the high winter tourism season, and Mr Sands said: “I think Easter will be very strong for the islands of The Bahamas, and certainly very strong for New Providence and certainly very strong for us here at Baha Mar. Understand that the Easter break
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‘Barely scratching surface’ on Sand Dollar’s adoption By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE BAHAMAS is “barely scratching the surface” of the Sand Dollar’s potential, payment providers asserted yesterday, with the digital currency needing more “high traffic” merchants to accept it to drive adoption. Jeffrey Beckles, Island Pay’s managing director, speaking as the Central Bank issued a progress update on the Sand Dollar’s roll-out, told Tribune Business that increasing the number of businesses willing to accept the Bahamian
JEFFREY BECKLES dollar as a means of payment will help to drive consumer confidence and increased usage. “At present, just over 100,000 mobile phonebased wallet accounts
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Royal Caribbean breaks silence in PI controversy By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net ROYAL Caribbean yesterday broke its silence on the controversy surrounding its $100m Paradise Island project by asserting the “first-in-kind” proposal will “ensure the economic benefit stays in The Bahamas for generations to come”. The cruise giant, in a three-paragraph statement that provided few specifics on its Royal Beach Club ambitions, largely echoed the Davis administration by pointing to the benefits of a revised deal that both have now described as providing greater ownership,
entrepreneurial opportunities and jobs for Bahamians. It did, though, promise to provide details on the project’s projected economic and environmental impact “in the coming weeks”. Responding to Atlantis and Bahamian environmental activists, who have voiced a mixture of concerns and criticisms of its plans, Royal Caribbean said: “For more than 50 years, Royal Caribbean International has partnered with The Bahamas to bring millions of visitors to see and experience the beloved culture and beauty of the islands. We’ve since continued to collaborate and
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$300m cruise port won’t be ‘a tourism Wal-Mart’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
• Average visitor stay increases up to two days RESORTS are enjoying room rates that are 10-15 percent higher than pre- • LPIA ability to ‘sustain COVID levels because “the perfect storm of growth’ needs analysis demand is working for The Bahamas”, a senior hotel- • Closed hotel return to ier said yesterday. Robert Sands, the Baha‘move beyond recovery’ mas Hotel and Tourism
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NASSAU Cruise Port’s top executive says he is “absolutely” confident that its $300m transformation will increase visitor spending yields and lure more hotel guests downtown, adding: “We’re not creating a tourism Wal-Mart.” Michael Maura, in a recent interview with Tribune Business, acknowledged that “the work ahead of us is very much to” raise per capita cruise passenger spending from $80 - a sum that is among the lowest in the Caribbean - to a level closer to the near-$200 per head in St Maarten and the US Virgin Islands. While much focus is often placed on passenger headcount, with Nassau Cruise Port receiving 13 percent more visitors during the 2023 first quarter when compared to pre-COVID figures from the same period in 2019, he said Prince George Wharf’s overhaul is designed to create “a high-end boutique
MICHAEL MAURA tourism experience” that will persuade tourists to part with more money. Arguing that it “is quite possible” for Nassau to match the spending yields generated by its major Caribbean rivals, Mr Maura told this newspaper that the Bahamian capital can only achieve this with “the right product offering”. The cruise port’s nine-figure upgrade is designed to be the catalyst that sparks the revival of downtown’s waterfront, with Bahamian entrepreneurs gaining the confidence to invest in their own retail, restaurant,
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