Sands: Tourism To Face Headwinds
Bahamian tourism will face headwinds over the next few months as hotels enter their regular slow season, tourism begins to stabilize post-pandemic, and hot temperatures change travel patterns, President of the Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) Robert “Sandy” Sands told Guardian Business.
While August and September are usually slow months for the tourism sector, Sands said other factors are beginning to come into play that might slow the season even more.
He explained that some travelers this year have opted to seek cooler climates, rather than move from their hot home region to a hot vacation destination.
“A number of people are experiencing this whole issue of not wanting to go from hot to hot destinations,” said Sands.
He explained that while hotels had some pent-up group travel to rely on during the slow season last year, this year group business has trended in the other direction.
“We don’t have the same level of groups that we had immediately post-COVID, which was built up for this particular time period,” Sands said.
“So, I think for the next quarter, we’re going to see some headwinds in terms of occupancy levels and rates.”
He added that business levels have begun to decline post-pandemic.
Sands said hotels will not likely see the large growth percentages they experienced last year. According to him, tourism numbers are not likely to climb out of the slow-season slump until mid-October or early November.
While The Bahamas has been branded as an affordable destination by travel insurance provider Squaremouth, which contends that travelers are trending towards destinations like The Bahamas, Sands said that affordability is likely more based on cruise travel than stopover.
“That is certainly indicative of the three-day typical cruise out of Florida,” said Sands.
“I think that’s within reach of a significant amount of individuals taking a cruise. I don’t think that is true of land-based tourism.
“But certainly, I would say there is a segment in the cruising market that makes cruising to The Bahamas as part of their destination, two or three stops, very valuable for them.
Chester Robards
The Nassau Guardian
