pharoah
06-20-07, - 01:38 AM
Bahamas among Caribbean leaders for stop over decline.
The Bahamas suffered one of the Caribbean's highest percentage declines in stopover tourist arrivals during the 2007 first quarter, greater than rivals such as Jamaica, Barbados and the US Virgin Islands, something officials yesterday said "underscores the vulnerability that we have" to the US Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI).
During the period from January to March 2007, the Bahamas saw total stopover visitor arrivals fall by 5 per cent compared to 2006 numbers, dropping to 389,597 from 409,077 last year. That represents a drop of some 19,480 tourists, and given that the Ministry of Tourism estimates that per capita visitor spending by stopovers totals $1,020, this could mean that the Bahamas suffered a $19.87 million decline in stopover tourist expenditure during the 2007 first quarter compared to last year.
The Bahamas saw stopover arrivals decline by 5.8 per cent in January 2007, some 8.2 per cent in February, and 2.1 per cent in March.
The 5 per cent decline in stopover visitors to the Bahamas was a greater rate of decrease than that experienced by Barbados, which suffered a 4 per cent drop for the first two months of 2007, and Jamaica, which sustained a 2.1 per cent decline in the first quarter. The US Virgin Islands also experienced a 2.9 per cent decline in stopover visitors during the 2007 first quarter.
Other Caribbean nations, though, were generally headed in the opposite direction when it came to stopover visitor arrivals. The British Virgin islands saw a 1.5 per cent improvement; Bermuda an 8.7 per cent rise; Aruba grew by 6.8 per cent; the Dominican Republic by 1.4 per cent; Guyana by 9.5 per cent; Curacao by 8.9 per cent; and the Cayman Islands by 8.3 per cent.
In response to those figures, Frank Comito, the Bahamas Hotel Association's (BHA) executive vice-president, told The Tribune yesterday: "It certainly underscores the vulnerability that we have, particularly more so than others in the region, to the US passport matter, because of our close proximity to the US and fact that we probably receive a higher percentage of US visitors than anywhere else, other than the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico."
Mr Comito said the WHTI initiative was probably the "top factor" impacting the Bahamas stopover visitor impact during the 2007 first quarter, along with a loss of room inventory and other issues, such as a relatively soft marketing campaign compared to other destinations.
Cancun, meanwhile, and Cozumel had witnessed 56.6 per cent and 35.1 per cent increases respectively in stopover arrivals during the first part of 2007, but Mr Comito pointed out this was probably due to the fact they were up against weak 2006 comparatives as a result of the damage inflicted by Hurricane Wilma.
However, he said both destinations had "invested a tremendous amount in advertising and promotions", and had "invested more in the first quarter than we do in an entire year".
Mr Comito said the BHA was hoping the US would pay further attention to mitigating the WHTI's impact, having already acknowledged problems with a passport application backlog that was leaving many travellers with a 10-12 week wait to receive their documents.
As a result, the Bush administration relaxed the WHTI's implementation until September 30, 2007, for those travellers who could produce receipts showing they had already applied for a passport. Yet this might be "too little, too late".
Mr Comito said the BHA and wider Bahamian tourism industry were hoping the US might consider taking the WHTI relaxation "even further".
He added that the BHA was supporting the vote taken by the House of Representatives last Friday on extending the WHTI implementation date until June 2009 for both land and sea travellers to the Caribbean, as the current arrangements "continue to place us at a further disadvantage with the cruise industry".
Mr Comito said: "The countries [in the Caribbean] are suffering from the shortfall in visitors. You are going to rapidly see governments impacted by this through the impact on tax revenues, as the tourism dollar fails to ripple through the economy in terms of employment, spending and taxes. We're getting a hit on this.
"WHTI is having an impact throughout the region's economies and government tax revenues are declining."
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor
The Bahamas suffered one of the Caribbean's highest percentage declines in stopover tourist arrivals during the 2007 first quarter, greater than rivals such as Jamaica, Barbados and the US Virgin Islands, something officials yesterday said "underscores the vulnerability that we have" to the US Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI).
During the period from January to March 2007, the Bahamas saw total stopover visitor arrivals fall by 5 per cent compared to 2006 numbers, dropping to 389,597 from 409,077 last year. That represents a drop of some 19,480 tourists, and given that the Ministry of Tourism estimates that per capita visitor spending by stopovers totals $1,020, this could mean that the Bahamas suffered a $19.87 million decline in stopover tourist expenditure during the 2007 first quarter compared to last year.
The Bahamas saw stopover arrivals decline by 5.8 per cent in January 2007, some 8.2 per cent in February, and 2.1 per cent in March.
The 5 per cent decline in stopover visitors to the Bahamas was a greater rate of decrease than that experienced by Barbados, which suffered a 4 per cent drop for the first two months of 2007, and Jamaica, which sustained a 2.1 per cent decline in the first quarter. The US Virgin Islands also experienced a 2.9 per cent decline in stopover visitors during the 2007 first quarter.
Other Caribbean nations, though, were generally headed in the opposite direction when it came to stopover visitor arrivals. The British Virgin islands saw a 1.5 per cent improvement; Bermuda an 8.7 per cent rise; Aruba grew by 6.8 per cent; the Dominican Republic by 1.4 per cent; Guyana by 9.5 per cent; Curacao by 8.9 per cent; and the Cayman Islands by 8.3 per cent.
In response to those figures, Frank Comito, the Bahamas Hotel Association's (BHA) executive vice-president, told The Tribune yesterday: "It certainly underscores the vulnerability that we have, particularly more so than others in the region, to the US passport matter, because of our close proximity to the US and fact that we probably receive a higher percentage of US visitors than anywhere else, other than the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico."
Mr Comito said the WHTI initiative was probably the "top factor" impacting the Bahamas stopover visitor impact during the 2007 first quarter, along with a loss of room inventory and other issues, such as a relatively soft marketing campaign compared to other destinations.
Cancun, meanwhile, and Cozumel had witnessed 56.6 per cent and 35.1 per cent increases respectively in stopover arrivals during the first part of 2007, but Mr Comito pointed out this was probably due to the fact they were up against weak 2006 comparatives as a result of the damage inflicted by Hurricane Wilma.
However, he said both destinations had "invested a tremendous amount in advertising and promotions", and had "invested more in the first quarter than we do in an entire year".
Mr Comito said the BHA was hoping the US would pay further attention to mitigating the WHTI's impact, having already acknowledged problems with a passport application backlog that was leaving many travellers with a 10-12 week wait to receive their documents.
As a result, the Bush administration relaxed the WHTI's implementation until September 30, 2007, for those travellers who could produce receipts showing they had already applied for a passport. Yet this might be "too little, too late".
Mr Comito said the BHA and wider Bahamian tourism industry were hoping the US might consider taking the WHTI relaxation "even further".
He added that the BHA was supporting the vote taken by the House of Representatives last Friday on extending the WHTI implementation date until June 2009 for both land and sea travellers to the Caribbean, as the current arrangements "continue to place us at a further disadvantage with the cruise industry".
Mr Comito said: "The countries [in the Caribbean] are suffering from the shortfall in visitors. You are going to rapidly see governments impacted by this through the impact on tax revenues, as the tourism dollar fails to ripple through the economy in terms of employment, spending and taxes. We're getting a hit on this.
"WHTI is having an impact throughout the region's economies and government tax revenues are declining."
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor