According to Caribbean Tourism Organisation, (CTO) statistics, The Bahamas, which recently welcomed its five millionth visitor, continues to be the regionﾴs premier destination.
Despite the devastation of hurricanes Jeanne and Frances, which left hotels closed, The Bahamas was able to continue to welcome visitors for the entire 12-month period in 2004.
With an average monthly decline of 14.42 percent of tourist arrivals between August and December, the largest decline among the regionﾴs major players, The Bahamas was still able to hold its own and end the year with 4.8 million visitors compared to its nearest rival, the Dominican Republic, which registered 3.8 million visitors.
Undoubtedly the natural disasters affected the growth in arrivals during 2004 compared to the previous year. While its nearest competitor saw an 8.8 percent increase in winter 2004 and a 3.5 percent increase in summer arrivals, The Bahamas saw a 9.2 percent increase for winter but a 3.0 percent drop in summer.
Cruise lines continue to favour The Bahamas. With 2004 cruise passenger arrivals of 3.36 million, The Bahamas lead all destinations and showed an annual increase of 13.1 percent over the previous year.
With plans to expand the quality and number of hotel rooms and increased airlift it is hoped that The Bahamas will be able to see significant increase in the lucrative stop over arrivals.
Currently the Dominican Republic with 3.44 million stop over arrivals more than doubles The Bahamasﾴ 1.45 million stop over arrivals in 2004.
Deputy Director General Vernice Walkine in an earlier interview said that the Ministry of Tourism was turning its attention to the lucrative European market where visitors traditionally take longer vacation stays than their North American counterparts.
Recently, the Prime Minister referred to an economic boom lead by new resort development in Eleuthera, Abaco and New Providence.
With companies like Kerzner International upgrading its rooms in the Phase III expansion to 600-unit luxury suite hotel and 400-unit condominium hotel as well as expansion to its One and Only Ocean Club, the destination is set to see increased spending from the high end of the market.
According to Butch Kerzner, CEO and President of Kerzner International, the One and Only ended 2004 with average occupancies above 80 percent and average room rates of over $700 per night.
Similarly, plans for a significant transformation of the Bahamian Riviera, the Cable Beach strip, have been fueled by government announcements that a sale of the major properties is imminent.
The cruise industry funded studies have shown that the industry contributes considerable sums to the Treasuries in the region, however, it does not come anywhere close to equaling the expenditures of stop over visitor
C. E. Huggins, The Bahama Journal
February 2, 2005
