An expectation that Baha Mar's total 2,200 rooms will come on stream over a period of time is among the factors guiding tourism stakeholders' approach to ensuring adequate airlift is in place to support the resort, Guardian Business has learned.
Responding to concerns expressed by President and Managing Director of Atlantis George Markantonis that there is not enough airlift in place at present to support both Atlantis and Baha Mar when the latter resort comes on stream, after data obtained by this newspaper revealed an 8.5 percent fall in airlift in the four years leading up to the end of 2013, a top Ministry of Tourism official said he is satisfied with the situation.
Tyrone Sawyer, director of airlift in the Ministry of Tourism, said: "We feel very confident from our joint efforts with our tourism partners that we have sufficient airlift, or we will have sufficient airlift as Baha Mar comes online. The reason I am being careful how I phrase it is that what's very important from an airlift perspective is that we have a balance between the total number of seats we have and the number of hotel rooms.
"We are working very closely with the Nassau Paradise Island Promotion Board and Baha Mar to make sure we have sufficient seats and those would be tied to coincide with the additional rooms coming online, as they come online. Part and parcel of that effort is marketing promotions to be done in those markets to build the demand, to ensure that whatever incremental seats we get we would generate demand to fill them."
Asked specifically if there is an expectation that Baha Mar's additional 2,200 rooms will open in a phased fashion after the December 2014 opening date and if this is factoring into the tourism partners' airlift strategy, Sawyer said: "That's correct. Very much so. That's the unspoken part of the balance."
When pressed as to how many rooms are expected to come online in December, Sawyer said: "You would have to speak to Baha Mar."
In an emailed response on Friday to the data showing a decline in airlift up to 2013, Vernice Walkine, chief executive officer of the Nassau Airport Development Company, said that there is an airlift strategic group in place working on securing additional airlift for the country in time for Baha Mar's opening. As part of this plan, she pointed to rooms opening in an "incremental" fashion.
"The strategy to secure seats for Baha Mar is well-developed and there will soon be announcements of additional capacity to meet the demands of the incremental rooms at Baha Mar," said Walkine.
Robert Sands, Baha Mar's senior vice president of administration and external affairs, in an interview with Guardian Business last week, consistently maintained that the resort will open in December.
When asked last Friday exactly to what extent the resort will be fully operational come December's opening, Sands said: "I think we are very clear we are working towards a December opening."
He repeated this comment when pressed on what proportion of the resort's 2,200 rooms will be opening at this time.
Guardian Business understands that there is some unease among vendors who have been invited to open concessions within Baha Mar about to what extent the resort will be "fully open" come December 2014.
This newspaper understands that at least some of those entering the resort in time for the December opening are being offered three months free rent.
"Suppliers are still having their feet held to the fire for December, but they are giving the vendors three months free rent. It just clicked with me a short while ago that this may be because they are not anticipating there'll be many guests around.
"I know other companies want to get something in writing from them (Baha Mar) about what will be there come December before they sign anything," said a source with knowledge of the situation.
Seeking to allay airlift-related fears, Sawyer also pointed to what he called the "flawed notion" that seat capacity "drives demand" for Bahamian vacations.
He added: "I think we should address the flawed notion that seat capacity drives demand. It's the opposite. If we proceed from the premise that air seat capacity drives demand we'll end up in knots. What happens is that you would find air seat capacity rising and falling based on consumer demand."
Sawyer suggested that increases and falls in airlift coming into The Bahamas between 2010 and 2013, shown in U.S. Department of Transportation statistics obtained by this newspaper, mirror "the pattern of consumer demand" to the destination, rather than acting as a hindrance to people taking vacations to this country.
U.S. Department of Transportation data obtained by Guardian Business shows that in 2010 a total of 1.56 million seats entered Nassau's Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) on 14,692 flights departing the U.S. In 2011, this figure fell by 10.2 percent to 1.4 million seats arriving on 12,715 flights. In 2012, the situation improved: Nassau was able to eclipse the 2010 seat figure as the level rose by 11.8 percent over the previous year to 1.56 million. These seats came in on 14,499 flights. In 2013, the picture turned gloomier, with seats falling by 8.9 percent to 1.42 million, arriving on 13,754 flights departing the U.S. For the year to date, up to July, seats coming into LPIA from North America rose by 3.4 percent to 930,933 as compared with 900,191 in the same period last year.

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