By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Tourism arrivals almost totally dried up in September 2020 due to COVID-19 lockdowns and border restrictions, falling by 98.6 percent against a prior year comparative that contained Hurricane Dorian.

The Central Bank's monthly economic developments report for October 2020, released yesterday, confirmed the "virtual absence" of air and sea visitors in what is traditionally the weakest month in the tourism calendar as it coincides with the peak of hurricane season.

The Family Islands were said to have enjoyed an "incrementally better experience" relative to New Providence, with the Central Bank disclosing: "In New Providence, arrivals matched less than one percent of the previous year’s outcome, with only a slightly better outcome for Grand Bahama.

"However, Grand Bahama’ air arrivals reached 28.2 percent of the 2019 levels. For the Family Islands, the air arrivals matched 39.6 percent of last year’s results, although weighed down by the absence of cruise traffic, total arrivals were at only 3.1 percent of the 2019 volumes."

Turning to an assessment of the year's first nine months, the Central Bank added: "On a year-to-date basis, activity remained contracted, as total foreign arrivals reduced by 68 percent vis-à-vis a 10.5 percent growth during the same period last year.

"Underpinning this outturn, air arrivals declined by 72.4 percent following a gain of 11.6 percent in the previous year, while sea visitors fell by 66.6 percent relative to a 10.1 percent advance in 2019.

"In terms of traffic through the country’s main gateway, data provided by the Nassau Airport Development Company (NAD) revealed that total international departures fell to 4,794 passengers during the month of October, overturning the 1.7 percent uptick to 91,115 a year earlier.

"On a year-to-date basis, total foreign departures declined significantly by 71.7 percent, a reversal from the 14.2 percent expansion in the prior year. By region, the US component, which is higher by volume, reduced by 72.7 percent, a turnaround from the 15.5 percent growth recorded in 2019. Similarly, the non-US international component contracted by 64.8 percent, contrasting with a 6.2 percent increase a year earlier."

The Airbnb and vacation rental market, though, were boosted by domestic business as persons sought nightly and weekend getaways to escape from lockdown pressures and party. "Data provided by AirDNA revealed positive movements in the short-term vacation rental market for the month of October, favoured by domestic tourism demand," the Central Bank said.

"In particular, total room nights sold rose by 19.6 percent, a turnaround from the 19.9 percent decline during the same period in 2019, supported by improvements in entire place listings (21.6 percent) and hotel comparable accommodations (14.7 percent).

"Similarly, the average daily room rate (ADR) for both entire place listings and hotel comparable listings increased by 3.9 percent and 1 percent, to $369.13 and $143.63, respectively. On a year-to-date basis, total room nights sold contracted by 46.6 percent, as bookings for entire place listings and hotel comparable reduced by 47.8 percent and 36.1 percent, respectively.

"Pricing data varied, as the ADR for entire place listings grew by 2.9 percent to $401.95, while the ADR for hotel comparable listings fell by 2.3 percent to $150.86."