“Islands that have direct airlift are performing better”
Out Island Promotion Board chief calls for “civil conversation” on COVID testing requirements for domestic travel
NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The Out Island Promotion Board’s (OIPB) executive director said yesterday that projections for room revenue and room nights sold have jumped to 65 percent of pre-pandemic levels amid the steady rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine distribution in this nation’s core tourism market.
Kerry Fountain, the OIPB executive director, told Eyewitness News: “When we reopened as a country back on November 1, the interest was there. We started advertising again right at the end of October.
“What we noticed we noticed was that our website traffic in November and December was only maybe seven percent off from what it was in the same period 2019. That indicated that there was tremendous interest and pent-up demand but bookings were still low at the end of 2020.”
He continued: “Our business in January and February was still a little bit off. It wasn’t until after the inauguration of President Biden, when the distribution of the vaccine was accelerated, that we saw people instead of just looking start booking.
“At our February meeting, we were expecting room revenue and room night sales to be approximately 45 percent, on average, of what they were in 2019. Since the vaccination, we are now expecting our room revenue and room night sales to be about 65 percent of what they were [in] 2019.
“Some hotels are doing better than others. Islands that have direct airlift are the islands that are performing better.”
Fountain also argued yesterday that a “civil conversation” needs to be had with health officials on the possibility of making the less expensive rapid antigen test a requirement for domestic travel as a means to help the domestic tourism segment.
He told Eyewitness News: “To help our Bahamian-owned hotels, the smaller hotels that rely on domestic tourism as well as other stakeholders, what we need now is to have a civil conversation with the Ministry of Health because to get from Nassau to Eleuthera, Exuma or Bimini is really cost-prohibitive.
“You have to pay approximately $120 per person for an RT-PCR test and then you have to pay for the domestic health visa in addition to airfare and accommodations.
“We are guided by the data coming from the Ministry of Health but at the same time, we need to have a conversation to determine whether we can allow Bahamians to support the domestic economy, keep our domestic airlines going and move from the RT-PCR test to the rapid antigen test.
“If not, tell us what are the key performance indicators that we are looking at. Why is there an RT-PCR test requirement in-country when to get into the US only a rapid antigen test is needed?”
The rapid antigen test detects protein fragments specific to the coronavirus and has a very quick runaround time for results. However, it is considered to be less accurate than the PCR test, which detects genetic material specific to the virus and can detect the virus within days of infection — even those who are asymptomatic.
