At the opening of the Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association (CHTA) Marketplace held an Atlantis, Paradise Island, Prime Minister Perry Christie reiterated his confidence in the suspended Baha Mar project, saying that efforts are underway to achieve "remobilization, completion and opening of the resort as soon as possible during the course of this year".

The annual CHTA event is among the region's most important marketing events, and affords tourism suppliers the opportunity to meet face-to-face with wholesalers from around the world selling Caribbean vacation travel, over the course of two days of business meetings.

Last year, 1,084 tourism professionals from 29 Caribbean countries, representing 272 suppliers and 102 buyers, used the opportunity to keep more than 11,800 pre-scheduled appointments. This year's event ended on Saturday. At the opening, Christie said the attendees were all no doubt closely following the ongoing saga of Baha Mar - "the largest single phase resort development in the history of the Caribbean".

"Baha Mar is a dream that has unfortunately [been] met with a major setback just weeks away from its targeted opening date.

"This enormous project, with far reaching potential, is front and center on my government's list of top priorities. Many are depending on a positive resolution to the Baha Mar dilemma: the key partners of this initiative; the 2,000 workers waiting to resume their jobs on the Cable Beach Riviera; and the countless numbers of prospective visitors anticipating a dream vacation at this luxury seaside resort," he said.

Christie stressed his optimism, which has been called misplaced and unfounded on occasion.

"Not for one second have I ever doubted that Baha Mar will open its doors. Why am I so confident? Because wherever there is a will and a duty-bound commitment, there is a way. And every effort is being made by the government working with the stakeholders to achieve remobilization, completion and opening of the resort as soon as possible during the course of this year. Major investors, hotel and casino operators are engaged with the relevant parties to achieve this desired objective," he said.

Cuba and competition
Meanwhile, Christie commended what he termed "the brave step that President Obama has taken" to reopen diplomatic relations with Cuba and to work toward completely lifting the trade embargo.

"With the U.S. trade embargo eliminated, Cuba will enter the Caribbean arena as a heavyweight contender for the region's share of the tourism trade. Among Cuba's many attractions is her novelty, and human beings are naturally attracted to what is new. But let's keep in mind that there is an upside to stiff competition.

"Competition motivates us to reach deep within and bring out qualities that we are unaware that we possess. All nations seek to strengthen their economic position through collaboration with neighboring countries. Cuba is no exception. Already, several of our destinations have entered into agreements with Cuba to do joint tourism marketing and to create multiple destination packages," he said.

According to Christie, it is no longer business as usual for Caribbean tourism.

"We are at that juncture in our development as tourism dependent nations, where the name of our region must become synonymous, bar none, with world class, impeccable service, value for money, top rate accommodations and wonderfully memorable vacation experiences. The upside is that today's global economic landscape continues to provide opportunities for each of the Caribbean's tourism destinations, even as our governments seek to mitigate challenges, such as infrastructure development, energy security, technological advancement, citizen security and climate change that impact tourism development," Christie said.

Taxes on air travel
Christie said he and some of his colleague ministers are paying increasing attention to what he called "an area of growing concern" - the increasingly high cost of taxes and fees on air travel to and within the region.

"Air-related taxes and fees for travel to the Caribbean can represent over half of the cost of an airline ticket for a number of destinations. By comparison, air-related taxes and fees represent less than 20 percent for travel within the United States," he said.

Christie said arguments had been presented by the private sector that by reducing the cost of air travel, primarily through tax and fee reductions, governments would stimulate more travel to the Caribbean, and government revenues would be protected and even enhanced through an increase in visitor arrivals.

"There is some evidence that this would be the case. When the United Kingdom reduced the air passenger duty, travel increased. Here in The Bahamas, when we adjusted some of our fees to the airlines, some of the airlift we lost, which was attributed to the fees, returned. We've seen examples throughout the region of how air and cruise travel has been stimulated when the cost of travel is reduced.

"At the same time, with greatly reduced fuel costs on the world market and the use of more fuel efficient aircraft, it is only reasonable to expect the benefit of these cost reductions to be passed on to the traveling public, thereby stimulating additional travel and leaving the tourist with more money to spend within the destination, and giving the region a better competitive edge," he said.

Pricing and occupancy
Christie also looked to the cruise lines for evidence that price stimulates travel and how occupancy rates can be increased with pricing strategies. He pointed out that most cruises to the Caribbean are operating at, or near, 100 percent occupancy.

"Compare that to our hotels which are operating at between 65 and 70 percent occupancy, and you see the tremendous growth opportunity which already exists without a single additional investment in new hotels. Raising occupancy rates by 10 percent would go a long way in increasing employment and tax revenues. Concomitant with such an initiative thought must be the thrust toward employee training for sustained improvements in service delivery," he said.

The odds
Christie told the regional and international tourism professionals that growing tourism performance "to beat the odds" means that "we will be forced to innovate and to push the boundaries of our knowledge, abilities and capacities to enable us to declare our tourism industry as 'cutting edge' as we seek to remain both individually and regionally competitive in an arena which will continue to power not only our economies but the global economy over the next decade".

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian