NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The vacation rental market saw a nearly 17 percent increase in total room nights sold in March compared to the previous year, according to recent data from the Central Bank.
The data also revealed that tourism output for that month remained buoyant, with healthy growth in both sea and air arrivals.
The regulator, in its Monthly Economic and Financial Developments Report for March, noted: “In the short-term vacation rental market, the latest data provided by AirDNA showed that in March, total room nights sold increased by 16.7 percent to 71,646 from the previous year. Correspondingly, the occupancy rates for both entire place and hotel comparable listings firmed to 63.8 percent and 40.9 percent, respectively, from 63.1 percent and 39 percent in the prior year. For the first quarter, total room nights sold grew by 13.8 percent to 177,538, vis-à-vis the same period in 2023.” The regulator noted that vacation rental occupancy levels declined during the first quarter of 2024 when compared to the same period last year and during the first quarter of 2024, vacation rental listings increased for New Providence, Grand Bahama, and Abaco.
According to the regulator, official data from the Ministry of Tourism indicated that total visitor arrivals increased by 11.7 percent to 1.9 million visitors during the first two months of 2024.
Sea arrivals increased to 1.6 million visitors from 1.4 million in the previous year, and air arrivals (indicative of stopovers) held steady at 0.3 million.
