Despite the move by several major airlines to significantly slash their number of flights into The Bahamas during the slow fall season, tourism industry executives say there is no need for alarm.
Deputy General Manager of Nassau Flight Services Reginald Grant recently told The Bahama Journal that the cuts are worse this year than previous years. He said the company has lost 40 percent of its business.
President of The Bahamas Hotel Association Earle Bethell told The Bahama Journal on Tuesday that hoteliers are not surprised by the action taken by the airlines.
“What we must realize is that this is a slow period and airlines can’t be operating at a loss,” Mr. Bethell said.
“So when the load factor is low, especially around this time, we see that they cut back on the operations of some flights. But on the same note I would like to say that these are not flights that are permanently cancelled. Once the demand is back the flights will come back on stream.”
He said that airlines are expected to start flying more flights during the Thanksgiving Holiday period. After that, Mr. Bethell said, a slowdown is again anticipated at the beginning of December. The number of flights is expected to pick up again around Christmas.
Director of airlift development at the Ministry of Tourism, Tyrone Sawyer, said there is absolutely no need to worry about the cutbacks.
“What we have seen is a seasonal adjustment in the amount of flights coming in and we still have more than sufficient seats to fill the available hotel rooms,” Mr. Sawyer assured.
He added that the ministry likes to maintain balance pertaining to passengers coming in and the amount of hotel rooms that are available.
Robert Sands, Baha Mar’s vice president of administration and external affairs, expressed similar sentiments.
“There is no need to panic,” Mr. Sands said. “The hotel occupancy is nowhere where we would like it to be, but it is still much improved from last [year].”
By: Bianca Symonette, The Bahama Journal
