• Hotels chief: Could ease visitors’ US return

• ‘Level 3’ rating enhances ‘preferred’ status

• Could boost return of 25-30% group sector

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association’s (BHTA) president yesterday urged this nation to strive “to get even better” in US health travel advisories in the hope it will lead to further COVID-19 restriction easing.

Robert Sands, speaking to Tribune Business after the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) returned The Bahamas to a “Level 3” ranking, voiced optimism that further improvement could pave the way for this nation to argue that tourists no longer need to take a COVID-19 rapid antigen test before returning to the US.

He added that The Bahamas’ upgrade from “Level 4”, which represents a “very high” number of COVID-19 cases, to “Level 3” or “high” could trigger an increase in the number of travellers who view this nation as “a preferred destination” - especially for group business that typically accounts for 25-30 percent of bookings at major hotels. 

“We don’t want to stay there; we want to get even better,” Mr Sands told this newspaper of the CDC’s action.”The lower we are on the CDC scale, the more the travelling public view The Bahamas as a preferred destination for travel even though there is pent-up demand for our nation.

“While it continues to be a work in progress, we must continue to work to bring those case numbers down. That will only happen through one of two things: The vaccination programme must continue, and we must continue to manage COVID-19 cases all around. These things will contribute to a lowering of the CDC health monitor.

“The world we are in today, travellers pay close attention to some of these travel barometers and advisories, which augurs well for The Bahamas and I’m hopeful we can now move the barometer to go from ‘Level 3’ to ‘Level 2’.”

Few nations have attained ‘Level 2’ status with the CDC in relation to COVID-19, but Mr Sands said the Baha Mar mega resort where he acts as senior vice-president of government and external affairs currently has a visitor base where “close to 60 percent” of guests have been fully vaccinated.

Those visitors still have to produce a negative COVID-19 antigen test to return to the US after their vacation, and the BHTA president revealed to Tribune Business: “We’re hopeful that if we continue to lower the CDC ranking, that may be a requirement we can work on to be eliminated as well.”

Mr Sands said The Bahamas’ traditional group, meeting and convention business, which is likely to be among the last to rebound from the pandemic, was particularly susceptible to influence from the CDC rankings and other global COVID-19 health barometers.

“Certainly groups, where you have congregations of more persons collectively, may be paying particular attention to these items,” he added. “Groups establish a base by which major properties can build on leisure business on a year-round basis. It’s an extremely important element for many resorts throughout the islands of The Bahamas, accounting for anywhere between 25-30 percent of business.

“The positive news is that we are moving in the right direction, and we must continue to move in the right direction. I would be encouraged that such an announcement may further increase the forward bookings for the destination and add to pent-up demand.

“I can tell you that collectively many hotels are seeing week-over-week increases in terms of viewings of their websites, persons reviewing The Bahamas as a potential destination, and actual bookings are growing week over week every week. “

Mr Sands said the hotel and tourism industry was measuring booking pace against 2019 and pre-COVID levels as opposed to 2020, which he described as “a non-starter year” due to COVID-19 lockdowns and other restrictions that closed the sector for much of the period.

“We are beginning to get back to 2019 if the forward booking trend continues,” he added. “I think everybody feels, certainly by winter 2022 we should be back to pre-COVID numbers. I would say we’re looking at that for the first and second quarter of 2022..

“The summer may turn out to be even stronger than it has traditionally been in terms of booking pace. I think the home porting is going to help some hotels during the summer months, and pent-up demand will continue to accumulate. I think the ease of travel continues to influence occupancies.”

The CDC move downgrades its warning to US citizens on The Bahamas from “travellers should avoid all travel to The Bahamas” to one where they should “reconsider travel”. The move to ‘Level 3’ occurred once before in January 2021, only for the CDC to place The Bahamas back at ‘Level 4’ when cases increased with the so-called ‘third wave’

The Prime Minister said back in January: “I am pleased to announce today that following a reassessment by the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, The Bahamas will be moved down to a ‘Level 3’ travel health notice from the more serious ‘Level 4’.

“This reassessment came after discussions between myself, other Bahamian officials and the US government. We will, I believe, be moved to ‘Level 3’ because the CDC sees how much progress we have made and are convinced that we will continue to be vigilant.”