Tourism shutdown has “massive hit” on BTC’s bottom line

Tourism shutdown has “massive hit” on BTC’s bottom line
BTC CEO Garfield "Garry" Sinclair

Company “tempering” Christmas expectations

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The Bahamas Telecommunications Company’s (BTC) top executive yesterday acknowledged that the shutdown of the tourism sector has had a “massive” impact on the quad provider’s bottom line, noting that the hospitality sector represents some 30 to 35 percent of its B2B revenue.

Garfield “Gary” Sinclair told Eyewitness News that the company has had to be “agile” in its adjustments to help mitigate the fallout from the pandemic on its operations.

“Back in March and April, we would have had to recast budgets based on what we saw as a potentially crippling impact of the pandemic. We exceeded all projections and expectations we created back on the revenue side.

“The shutdown of tourism has had a massive impact on our operations. We had to be agile in our adjustments. Of our B2B business, the hospitality sector is somewhere between 30 to 35 percent of overall B2B revenue. Our hospitality sector is huge.”

Still, Sinclair noted that the company has been adapting to the restrictions brought about via the pandemic in terms of meeting consumer needs as well as its own operational efficiencies.

He noted that the company has seen a strong performance from its post-paid consumer segment which has grown month-to-month. Sinclair also described the company’s virtual store offering as having been “absolutely critical” to its operations during lockdown periods.

According to Sinclair, 90 percent of the company’s staff is working from home, with productivity levels having gone “through the roof”.

“Ninety percent of our staff is working from home. It’s worked really well. I can say that the vast majority of them have done well working from home. Our productivity levels have gone through. The proof is in the pudding. I think this is one of the adjustments that COVID-19 has helped establish,” said Sinclair.

As businesses gear up for the Christmas shopping period, Sinclair acknowledged that expectations this year are tempered.

“We have tempered our expectations, just based on the overall contraction in the economy overall. There is a lot of fear emanating over the possibility of contracting this virus and the restrictions being imposed. We have tempered our expectations but what we do know is this is the time of year when people’s wallets are going to be the biggest, even if the size of the wallet itself is smaller. Christmas is still going to be the highest spending period. It always has been and will continue to be,” said Sinclair.

The company has kicked off its seven-week “All I Want For Christmas Is” campaign. The Christmas campaign features everything for the connected home with special offers for landline, internet, mobile and television customers.