By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas’ two mega resorts yesterday blamed Omicron for disrupting their “booking pace” and costing them critical group business as they called for COVID restrictions to be further eased.

Graeme Davis, Baha Mar’s president, told the Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association’s (BHTA) first Board of Directors meeting for 2022 that it continues to encounter guest “push back on the mask mandate” given that 90 percent and upwards are now fully vaccinated.

Voicing expectations that the Davis administration will further “pull back” on protocols for vaccinated travellers, Mr Davis said easing the 72-hour testing before travel requirement and downgrading the Health Travel Visa to “an Immigration form” would both help speed up tourism’s rebound and that of the wider economy.

Faced with the COVID case surge sparked by the Omicron variant, the Baha Mar chief said: “We struggled through the festive season into early January. Certainly, with those cases escalating and the CDC (Centres for Disease Control and Prevention) going to ‘Level 4’, we had significant group cancellations the first quarter and certainly leading into the second quarter.

“There are positive signs that the surge is on the lower end of the curve. We’re starting to see our booking pace improve, but are still seeing cancellations in groups and continue to encourage the Bahamas government to work with the CDC to get CDC warning from a ‘Level 4’ to a ‘Level 2’.”

Such an upgrade from the present advisory, which urges Americans to “avoid travel to The Bahamas”, is thought to be imminent based on this nation’s declining case numbers. Data released yesterday revealed that The Bahamas recorded just 14 new COVID cases on Wednesday. And just 27 persons remain in hospital, with two of those receiving intensive care.

Mr Davis, meanwhile, revealing that guests - especially those who are fully vaccinated against COVID - continue to “push back” against The Bahamas’ mask mandate, added that the Government needed to look at the further easing of COVID restrictions to help boost visitor demand for the destination.

“We would expect the Government to start to pull back on some of the COVID protocols for vaccinated guests......,” he added. “It would be a tremendous step forward.”

While praising the Government for eliminating 48-hour in-destination testing as Omicron cases fell, Mr Davis said: “I’m hoping we can look at relaxing testing protocols coming into the destination that will keep us competitive with other Caribbean destinations. It increases our demand and booking pace going forward.”

Disclosing that Baha Mar has spent more than $6m in facilitating over 450,000 tests for its guests and employees, he added: “We still have a long ways to go, and hopefully the Government can push forward with relaxing COVID protocols.... the relaxation of the Health Travel Visa to an Immigration form would be helpful, and the three-day testing.

“We’re not out of the woods yet. Our booking pace is not where it needs to be as well as occupancy, so we’re hopeful that the Government will support this industry that is vital to the economy.”

Baha Mar is far from alone in missing out on group business which, prior to COVID-19, typically accounted for between 30-40 percent of guest volumes for properties with conference facilities. This segment provided solid books of business that were booked far out, enabling resorts to plan and organise their leisure travel around this.

COVID, coupled with the CDC’s “do not travel” advisory, is thought to have deterred many groups from travelling. Jackson Weech, Atlantis’ senior vice-president and general manager for operation, said the Paradise Island mega resort’s group business was currently “nowhere near in line with the levels seen” pre-COVID.

“We continue to be very, very cautious in so far as the first quarter and second quarter business outlook,” he added, noting that the initial months of 2022 were “marred by the resurgence of COVID in our core markets”.

“There was a noticeable decline in forward bookings in January despite a somewhat robust Christmas and New Year performance,” Mr Weech said, echoing Mr Davis’ hope that The Bahamas will follow other nations and keep pace in the relaxation of its COVID-19 restrictions moving forward.

“We’re very much guarded on the second and third quarters,” he added. “The last Spring Break period earlier saw a positive booking pace with a shorter booking window. Groups continue to stand out as impacted to us, and are certainly nowhere near in line with the levels seen in 2019.

“We are seeing positive signs and expect strengthening in the second half of 2022.” Mr Weech said Atlantis had also seen an increase in occupancy at its marina from larger vessels seeking dockage space.

Turning to Atlantis’ partnership with Grammy Award-winning musician and producer, Pharrell Williams, and his business partner David Grutman, for their Somewhere Else concept, he added: “That’s going to underpin the redevelopment of the Beach Towers.

“The Somewhere Else project will totally transform the restaurants, the beach and add a totally new dynamic to Atlantis.” Renovations are also proceeding at the Royal Towers.

Fred Lounsberry, chair and chief executive at the Nassau/Paradise Island Promotion Board, told the BHTA meeting that all the airlines that The Bahamas’ delegation met with at the recent Routes America conference had voiced concerns about COVID-related impediments facing passengers flying to this nation.

And he urged that The Bahamas remain in lock-step with the rest of the world, and keep pace, when it came to the relaxation of COVID protocols. Mr Lounsberry said this will be especially important for whenever the US eases its testing requirements to enter that country.

“The feeling is it’s coming,” he added of the US. “It’s not if; it’s when. The UK has already done it. All testing has been done away with. The European Union is on the cusp of that in the next month or so. It’s just one of the things we have to be cognisant of and be ready to react to.

“Once the US entry test goes away; it may be a month or months, hopefully that opens the way. The airlines were worried that the extra cost impediment to having to get the test, families and that. While it’s better than before it’s certainly an obstacle to travel.”

With airline fuel costs set to soar as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Mr Lounsberry added: “We have to be prepared and testing is still a challenge for us.” And, with Omicron easing off worldwide, he said “hopefully we get ourselves wide open sooner rather than later.”