{"id":27489,"date":"2012-10-31T08:52:38","date_gmt":"2012-10-31T12:52:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/?p=27489"},"modified":"2012-10-31T09:15:03","modified_gmt":"2012-10-31T13:15:03","slug":"sandy-cuts-off-50-of-tourism-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/2012\/10\/sandy-cuts-off-50-of-tourism-market","title":{"rendered":"Sandy Cuts Tourism Market By 50%"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Some 45-50 per cent of the Bahamas\u2019 tourism market is being negatively impacted by Hurricane Sandy\u2019s US east coast impact, Tribune Business was told yesterday, shutting down two-way airlift between that area and this nation.<\/p>\n

Tourism director-general, David Johnson, said Hurricane Sandy was still a concern for the industry having forced a shutdown of the US east coast, adding that \u201c45-50 per cent of our business is impacted by the East Coast\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cNotwithstanding our airlift, many of our passengers who come to the Bahamas from the northeast do so via Florida, although there are some flights like Delta that come non-stop from places like New York,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlmost 50 per cent of our passengers are on flights that come via Florida, although they live in the north-east, so it\u2019s very significant. The impact of the north-east to our business is in the neighbourhood of almost 50 per cent. Forty-five plus per cent to 50 per cent of our business is impacted by the east coast, north of the Carolinas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meteorologists\u00a0 have warned that the New York City region could face the worst of Hurricane\u00a0Sandy, which has forced evacuations along the East Coast, the shutdown of financial markets and mass transit. New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore and Boston all lie in the storm\u2019s target zone.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously with the storm having forced the closure of airports along the US east coast, areas like New York and Washington, it is a concern to us,\u201d Mr Johnson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope that it moves at a faster pace. In these matters one has to deal with the cards played, but the impact will be significant. Our hotels policy on cancellations remains the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope that persons can be accommodated, and that they will be able to rebook and still take their trip in the weeks ahead. The fallout and the impact is yet to be known. I can\u2019t quantify it at this time. We will have a better idea after Sandy exits the northeast.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robert Sands, senior vice-president of governmental and executive affairs at Baha Mar, told Tribune Business that the impact of the storm on the tourism industry could be minimal given the Bahamas Hotel Association\u2019s (BHA) policy regarding cancellations, and the fact it is traditionally the slowest period in the tourist season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe certainly hope that this whole event is over\u00a0fairly soon. The industry\u2019s\u00a0 position remains the same, that there may be some impact on customers travelling in, but there is a similar impact of customers not being able to leave,\u201d Mr Sands told Tribune Business.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a way, one cancels out the other. There is a Bahamas Hotel Association cancellation policy in effect. We are reasonably satisfied that a number of customers will rebook. This may not be totally lost business for the destination.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Sands added: \u201cIt\u2019s also important to note that this is happening at a traditionally slow, off-peak time, and also in the earlier part of the week which is the slower part of the week versus the weekend travel.”<\/p>\n

By Natario McKenzie<\/span><\/em>
\nTribune Business Reporter<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

For the entire article, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Between 45-50 per cent of the Bahamas\u2019 tourism market is being negatively impacted by Hurricane Sandy\u2019s impact on America, shutting down two-way airlift between the East Coast and the Bahamas. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10223285771444175_51037792744":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[552,33],"class_list":["post-27489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-travel","tag-hurricane-sandy","tag-tourism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27489\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}