Tourism minister believes Bahamas on “on the cusp” of tourism rebound
NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Lucayan Renewal Holdings Chairman Michael Scott, QC, said yesterday that bookings at the Our Lucaya property are expected to pick up next month as an aggressive marketing and promotions campaign has been undertaken.
Scott told Eyewitness News that the property reopened yesterday with under 20 bookings, although a resurgence is expected over the next several weeks.
“We are expecting a resurgence in April because we are doing a lot of aggressive marketing and promotions,” said Scott.
“I would expect things to pick up, especially after Easter. We are optimistic about guest arrivals for the next month or two.
“We have 37 employees on the ground so far and I would imagine that we would be up to 50 to 55 within a month.”
Commenting on the reopening of the property, Tourism Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar said: “The naysayers will undoubtedly opine that this is nothing special — reopening a hotel with a staff complement that is less than what it was when it was last opened.
“The world is still in the grips of this odious coronavirus pandemic, which has negatively impacted passenger loads in all tourism-related businesses — namely hotels, airlines, airports, etc. — leading to deep cuts in employment levels in these types of businesses.
“We are, I believe, on the cusp of a rebound in the tourism sector given the extremely robust rollout of the vaccine in our key core market, which is the United States, from which over 80 percent of our foreign visitors originate.”
D’Aguilar added: “Studies reveal that Americans have an extremely large pent-up demand to travel. Airlines and airports in the US are currently experiencing significantly increased passenger loads for domestic travel and, once more people get vaccinated, we expect the demand for travel to the Caribbean, The Bahamas, to increase significantly.”
