By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas must be “savvy” and “make the case” for extra post-Irma airlift that could fill the new capacity created by Baha Mar, the Minister of Tourism revealed yesterday.

Dionisio D’Aguilar told Tribune Business that the airline industry had approached the Bahamas in the hurricane’s wake to see if this nation could absorb some of the airlift capacity lost elsewhere in the Caribbean.

With destinations such as the Leeward Islands, and British and US Virgin Islands, unable to take stopover tourists as they recover from Irma’s devastation, Mr D’Aguilar said “opportunities are presenting themselves” to the Bahamas.

Emphasising that this nation did not want to benefit from others’ misfortune, and mindful that Hurricane Maria looms as a potential threat to the Bahamas, the Minister said this nation was in a position to benefit other destinations by “keeping the lift in the Caribbean”.

“The airlines came to us,” Mr D’Aguilar told Tribune Business. “It’s not that we went looking for it. They came to us. They have these aircraft they are not presently using because of the disaster that happened in the Leeward Islands and the Virgin Islands, so if we can make the case we’re hoping to acquiesce.

“We’ve got to make the case. The hotels have to come together, pick a destination and put more marketing dollars into that destination to create demand so the airlines can see it - that we’re trying to create an increase in demand - and as a result they’re prepared to supply additional airlift.”

Mr D’Aguilar added that the Ministry of Tourism, Nassau/Paradise Island Promotion Board and individual hotels would have to collaborate in “ramping up their marketing” to convince the airlines to direct their spare capacity post-Irma to the Bahamas.

“That [Hurricane Irma] has created a supply problem that, if we are savvy, we can ramp up our marketing to take advantage of to add airlift that is unallocated right now,” the Minister told this newspaper.

“We are very mindful of the fact our Caribbean brothers and sisters are catching God almighty hell, and would prefer not to benefit from their fate, but these opportunities are presenting themselves.”

The possibility of attracting additional airlift, albeit in tragic circumstances, has come at a particularly opportune time for the Bahamas as the $4.2 billion Baha Mar project continues to ramp up staffing and room inventory ahead of its full April 2018 opening.

Provided this nation is spared the worst effects of Hurricane Maria, any extra air service will coincide with the opening of Baha Mar’s SLS Lux property, which is timed for the October/November period.

The Bahamas needs to attract an additional 314,000 airline seats annually to fill Baha Mar’s net 2,300 room increase once the property is fully operational, which some observers believe is a ‘tough sell’ for the destination.

With just the 1,800-room Grand Hyatt at Baha Mar property open, Atlantis and other New Providence-based hotels have already expressed concerns over the new ‘destination resort’s’ rate discounts, amid continuing fears that it will ‘split’ rather than grow the high-end visitor market with Paradise Island.

The extra potential airlift could resolve these concerns in the short-term by supplying Nassau/Paradise Island with sufficient supply to fill the increased room inventory.

Mr D’Aguilar, meanwhile, argued that the Bahamas would be benefiting the wider Caribbean if it could attract this airlift, thereby ensuring it remained in the region for when Irma-ravaged destinations had fully recovered.

He added that should the airlines reallocate planes, and millions of dollars in marketing spend, to US routes it would be extremely hard for the Caribbean to regain the airlift it enjoyed before,

“We think it’s better and advantageous for the entire Caribbean to keep that lift in the Caribbean,” Mr D’Aguilar said. “As those damaged markets come back on stream, they can get back their lift and life goes on.”

Mr D’Aguilar said Irma’s aftermath had also resulted in increased cruise ship calls to Nassau, Freeport and Bahamian private islands, due to the devastation on St Maarten and other regular ports in the Caribbean.

“Cruise ships unable to go to the Leeward Islands, British Virgin Islands and US Virgin Islands are making stops here and in Freeport, I’m told, as a result of the inability to go there,” the Minister said. “It’s having a positive effect from the standpoint.”

With the Bahamas’ tourism industry having suffered “a glancing blow” from Hurricane Irma, Mr D’Aguilar expressed particular concern over the storm’s impact on Florida, which accounts for around 80 per cent of this nation’s boating market.

He reiterated that the loss of docking space at Resorts World and Bimini Big Game would hit Bimini especially hard, given that much of the island’s tourist business was reliant on visiting boaters.

“A lot of people’s travel plans got disrupted, but it’s a slow part of the year,” Mr D’Aguilar said. “If there’s one positive take away from this hurricane, at least it waited until after Labour Day and the slow period.”