According to the Central Bank’s monthly economic report for March, there was a modest increase in tourist arrivals to the country due to firming in visitor traffic for New Providence and approximately recovered trends in the Family Islands.
Close to 17,000 more people traveled to Grand Bahama in January and February 2004 than the first two months of 2005, a 30 percent falloff in arrivals which a senior tourism official attributes to the closure of the Royal Oasis Resort.
Terrance Roberts, public relations director in the Ministry of Tourism, told The Bahama Journal this week that the closure of the Royal Oasis Resort has taken one-third of the island’s available rooms offline.
According to Ministry of Tourism figures, air arrivals to Grand Bahama for February were down by 38.9 percent and sea arrivals down by 23.5 percent compared to the same period last year, for an average falloff in visitor arrivals of 30.3 percent.
Mr. Roberts pointed out that notwithstanding the falloff in arrivals, the island’s remaining resorts are performing well.
According to the Central Bank’s monthly economic report for March, there was a modest increase in tourist arrivals to the country due to firming in visitor traffic for New Providence.
But the report indicated that a significant output gap remained in Grand Bahama.
In its report for February, the Bank said tourism activity in Grand Bahama remained significantly below trend.
The report pointed out that, “The most recent data for January 2005 reveal that, although tourist arrivals outpaced the previous year, air arrivals contracted, owing to a sizeable falloff in Grand Bahama activity.”
For the first two months of the year, 92,405 visitors traveled to Grand Bahama compared to the 109,266 who traveled here by air and sea the same period last year.
Prior to last year’s storms, tourism statistics indicated a positive trend in tourist arrivals to the island.
Last year, 729,632 persons traveled to Grand Bahama compared to 630,871 visitors in 2003.
Tourism officials indicated that last year’s upsurge was due in large part to a record number of luxury cruise ships which made inaugural stops on the Lucayan Harbour.
Prior to the storms, tourism officials said the island had secured a record level of airlift, but major damage to the island’s airport following the storms resulted in some of the scheduled airlift carriers temporarily suspending service to the island.
Mr. Roberts said although air arrival numbers are off trend, Grand Bahama has recovered all of the scheduled airlift it had prior to last year’s storms.
From: The Bahama Journal
