By Annelia Nixon

anixon@tribunemedia.net

Tour guides in Exuma are bracing for the changes Sandals Emerald Bay’s temporary closing may bring to the island.

Robert Thompson, owner of Robert’s Island Adventures, and Ray Lightbourn, owner of Exuma Water Sports, both said  business normally slows down around this time of year. However, Mr Thompson, who conducts boat tours, said business is even slower and he believes it’s due to Sandals closing.

“I don’t have anything scheduled for the rest of the week, so it’s pretty slow,” Mr Thompson said. “I mean, normally in August, we’re out almost every day in the boat and all of a sudden it just like shut right off. Starting this week, actually, we only had like two trips this week and nothing scheduled for next week, so it’s really dropped off. You know, when somebody hear a major hotel closed on the island, they start to wonder what’s going on.”

Mr Lightbourn, who gained a percentage of his customers from Sandals, said when he heard about Sandals closing he was afraid business would run like it did during COVID. He said during the height of the pandemic, flights to the island were limited and the amount of tourists looking for boat tours were as well.

“So what’s going to happen is it’s going to cut a lot of our business because the flights coming in, they’re not going to be full either and so the planes aren’t going to run at half or 60 percent. They got to be full to make money. So more than likely, they’re going to cut those flights. They haven’t cut them yet, but we expect them to cut them as soon as they start feeling it which is going to be within a few weeks, I’m sure. So when that stops people are going to find it very hard to get to Exuma. It’s going to be more costly, too, because they’re going to have to probably go through Nassau or whatever and it’s going to definitely affect us the same way like COVID affected us.”

On a positive note, Mr Lightbourn said Exumians have a timeline on how long the renovations will go on, unlike during the pandemic when the world was unsure when things may return to normal.

“So this time at least we know it’s going to be slow for whatever, 15 months,” he said. “That’s what they say. Of course, that could be two years. We don’t know.”

He also noted that tourists that do end up in Exuma will have AirBNBs as another option. Judy Rolle, a vacation rental property manager and owner of Little Exuma Tours, concurred.

“I’m pretty sure people hear a lot about Exuma and want to come to Exuma,” she said. “Now that Sandals is not available a lot of the AirBNBs are going to be well booked. I’m hoping.”

Mrs Rolle does not believe Sandals’ temporary closure will negatively impact tourism. She believes Exuma has enough smaller hotels and vacation rentals to accommodate visitors to the island. Mr Lightbourn believes flights will become limited but Mrs Rolle who also works for AirCanada said she confirmed with her boss that their flights will continue to function as normal.

“Well, I work also for Air Canada and our flight normally was pretty much based with Sandals but because there are so many AirBNBs, you have people coming through to stay at AirBNBs,” she said. “So our flight is not cancelled. Our flight resumes back November 10, which is Air Canada. I’m the station manager for Air Canada in Exuma. Air Canada normally comes in from November until April. That has been like that for the past eight years. We just do seasonal from November to April. We come once a week on Sunday. I confirm it with my boss. Because they know Sandals is closed. They still coming, resuming their flights, November 10.”