With occupancy levels in the mid-80 percent range for March and April, Atlantis is enjoying an "excellent Spring Break season" according to its president and managing director.
George Markantonis attributed the bounce in arrivals over 2013 in part to the fact that the Easter holiday now falls in April, spreading the holiday-related demand into that month in addition to March, and the success of ongoing promotional initiatives such as the jointly-funded air credit program that gives visitors money back on the cost of their travel if they stay a minimum number of nights.
Since January alone, 30 percent of Atlantis' visitors making bookings through its Florida sales office have taken advantage of that program, resulting in 18,000 room bookings, or 105,000 room nights.
The program is part-funded by the participating hotel, in conjunction with the Nassau Paradise Island Promotion Board (NPIPB) and the Ministry of Tourism.
"The leisure business on Paradise Island is up considerably year-on-year for both March and April. Unfortunately group business is a little bit down but that is mostly a timing issue as we are still booking groups for the year," said Markantonis, calling the resort's ability to fill over 80 percent of its almost 4,000 rooms "remarkable".
Fred Lounsberry, chief executive officer (CEO) of the Nassau Paradise Island Promotions Board, said Atlantis' positive experience on the leisure side is being felt throughout the two islands.
"The general feeling from most of our member hotels are that March and April are going to be extremely strong. It took a little while to ramp up - January was about same as last year - but I think we're seeing good acceleration.
"The way the holiday falls certainly makes a big difference; with Easter now being in April it's given us two big months. The members feel very good about May and June too, so there's good momentum going in," said Lounsberry.
Markantonis said the bookings pace for May and June for Atlantis is slightly behind where it was last year, but plans to launch a concerted marketing effort in the U.S. to boost summer bookings are expected to stimulate extra demand.
Lounsberry said that among NPIPB's 20 member hotels on Nassau and Paradise Island, there is a general sense of optimism for the coming year.
"The summer looks stronger than last year definitely, you don't want to get too far ahead of yourself, bookings still come in late and something can always happen, but generally the feeling is good," he said, adding that the four- to five-week promotional push for The Bahamas that is soon to begin shows the industry is "not letting up" in its efforts to boost arrival numbers.
The positive news comes after a 2013 when the industry suffered an overall fall in visitor arrivals in comparison to the previous year, with preliminary results released in February by the Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) showing a Bahamas-wide decline of 3.5 percent in room occupancy.
Data compiled by the BHTA and released in February also indicated that confidence in 2014 was at its highest level since 2007, despite 47 percent of the responding hotels reporting a net loss in 2013, up from 33 per cent in 2012.

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