Despite an "aggressive renaissance" of the tourism product, Fred Lounsberry, CEO of the Nassau/Paradise Island Promotion Board, said the board's top airline partners are leery of committing to providing more airlift into The Bahamas until Baha Mar gives a firm opening date, and demand has a chance to build for the new offering.
According to Lounsberry, New Providence and Paradise Island are in the midst of an "aggressive renaissance" of their tourism products and can expect strong growth well into 2016 once room inventory expands.
Speaking to Guardian Business, Lounsberry said the tourism sector needs to direct its attention to boosting airlift into the destination to sustain encouraging growth experienced during the first quarter of 2015. Lounsberry estimated during a destination update for industry partners last Friday that New Providence and Paradise Island will require 1,000 more daily airline seats once the pending stock of rooms are brought on stream. Although Lounsberry told Guardian Business that the promotion board and its partners had "chipped away" at this figure to accommodate healthy summer demand, much hinges on the opening of Baha Mar.
"We've chipped away at that this summer, it's just a matter of sustaining it because we can't sustain it until we have all of the hotel rooms online. We're doing it now to take care of the increased demand that we're seeing but now when we have more rooms the demand has to be strong to satisfy that.
"The demand has to drive that. The airlines are great partners but they're not going to put in new airlift on their own until they start seeing the demand. We, the board, have negotiated a little over 300 more seats a day for the summer because we saw that summer was going to be strong. We needed them and they're all doing very well," said Lounsberry.
The elephant in the room, however, is the question of when Baha Mar will finally open its doors to the market after a series of delays. Lounsberry noted that the promotion board's top airline partners, including Delta, United Airlines and JetBlue, all remain prepared to accommodate an increase in demand, yet are unable to commit to increased airlift until a firm opening date is provided.
"We need to know a date. A date would be very helpful, because I think honestly the airlines are a little gun-shy with the dates and really the lack of information. When the information is ready then the plan gets executed. There has been a plan in place for about 2.5 years so we just keep sliding it," he said.
Baha Mar CEO Sarkis Izmirlian returned to China last week, presumably to once more discuss the issues holding back the $3.5 billion resort's long delayed opening. The project, inarguably expected by the government to be a driving force behind the country's economic recovery, has been delayed three times. Although Guardian Business understands that Izmirlian aims for a September opening, there has been no word from the development's general contractor, China Construction America (CCA).
"All of these partners are excited about it, it's just that they've got to know when it's going to be there. We don't want a false start with them," Lounsberry added.
Regarding the destination's current performance, Lounsberry welcomed strong tourism figures year-to-date ending in April, during which arrivals to New Providence and Paradise Island jumped 4.5 percent. A 6.9 percent increase in hotel room occupancy was accompanied by an approximate six percent jump in revenue.
While U.S. arrivals continued to dominate visitor numbers to the islands for early 2015, Lounsberry noted that search interest from Latin America has exploded in recent years.
Lounsberry highlighted the "huge" demand for and success of all-inclusive properties in New Providence and Paradise Island, a model he noted the jurisdiction had been "very short on" in the past, as visitors seek greater value for money within the destination.
Lounsberry was particularly encouraged by the industry interest in Paradise Island's upcoming resort, The Warwick, the former Paradise Island Harbour Resort, which is due to reopen later this year with 240 rooms.
"All the indicators are that it's going to be a phenomenal summer and strong into the fall. The intent to travel is extremely strong. People will travel, we still have to get out and market to them but the Caribbean and The Bahamas are very well-positioned," he said.
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