By PAVEL BAILEY

TribuneStaffReporter

pbailey@tribunemedia.net

BAHA MAR president Graeme Davis said his resort saw a decline in guests after a US travel advisory in January but has experienced growth overall compared to last year.

After an unusually violent January that saw 21 people murdered, the

United States issued a travel advisory urging its residents to demonstrate increased caution. Multiple major US news organisations reported on the advisory, sparking local fears about its impact.

“We are seeing a decline,” Mr Davis said on Friday, discussing the matter directly for the first time.

“All of our statistics are showing that we’ve had a decline after the January safety warnings. It continues to be in people’s minds. I don’t think we should ever forget that. While maybe the press has died down, there is still questions in traveller minds, and we get that from travel agents. We got those questions. And I think it’s important that we stay vigilant in protecting our community, in creating a safe environment for our community, which creates a safe environment for every visitor as well.”

Despite the advisory warning, he said: “We are seeing tremendous growth over last year. We are seeing that weekends are quite full. We have some excellent corporate business in as well. In the coming months, as we get into the US holiday, Memorial Day weekend, we are expected to be very close to being sold out. And then we are coming up to the July 4th and the summer vacation for all of the United States. We are expecting it to be very, very robust summer business.”

After reports about the US travel advisory, the Ministry of Tourism launched an aggressive campaign to change the narrative and encourage visits from tourists.