NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Sandals Resorts International (SRI) executive chairman Adam Stewart yesterday expressed optimism over the future of the country’s tourism sector, noting that by year’s end the resort chain will announce plans for further investments in the country.
Speaking on the sidelines of the ASTA Caribbean Showcase 2022 which is being held at the Sandals Royal Bahamian Resort on Cable Beach, Stewart noted that The Bahamas was at the forefront of regional tourism’s COVID-19 recovery.
“I really love what I’m seeing coming in the pipeline for the future of Bahamian tourism. We are proud to be at the center of it and further investments are coming from Sandals,” Stewart said.
While declining to give specifics on those investments, Stewart pledged “by the end of the year you will hear another announcement about investments from Sandals in The Bahamas.”
Stewart claimed that the performance of the resort chain’s properties in The Bahamas has been strong.
He noted that the Royal Bahamian Resort which was the last of its properties to open is seeing strong occupancies and solid forward bookings.
“We are happy that we did what we did. It was the right time. The hotel needed some reinvestment. We put it in and since reopening on January 27th of this year it has been phenomenal, really gangbusters. Forward bookings are the strongest the hotel has ever seen and our customer satisfaction scores are the heights they have ever been,” said Stewart.
Stewart acknowledged that inflation has impacted the tourism sector as it has every other industry, expressing that its knock-on effect has impacted everything from the cost of food to airfare. Still, Stewart noted that consumers continue to spend “aggressively” on travel. Stewart said that inflation will continue to be a challenge but hopefully will start to slow down.
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