By YOURI KEMP
Tribune Business Reporter
ykemp@tribunemedia.net
A senior Atlantis executive yesterday voiced optimism that guest bookings will "take off" in the 2021 first quarter after a slow start to its re-opening that begins today.
Russell Miller, the Paradise Island mega resort's executive vice-president of hotel operations, said: "We're optimistic. It's going to start out slow, but then we will gradually build up, so by Christmas and New Year we think we'll be at a good level of occupancies and we're hoping for the first quarter to take off and be also successful for us."
Atlantis is recalling around 3,000 staff for today's partial re-opening following a near nine-month shutdown due to COVID-19, with the Royal Towers, The Reef and Harborside timeshare complexes among the facilities that will open first.
Amenities and attractions that will open include the casino, Dolphin Cay marine habitat and its 50,000 aquatic animals, marina, Mandara spa, Ocean Club Golf Course, restaurants such as Nobu and Todd English's Olives, the Marina Village and Crystal Court shops. Others will open as and when visitor demand returns to pre-pandemic levels.
With COVID-19 infections in The Bahamas' key source market, the US, continuing to soar and remain near the 200,000 mark daily, Mr Miller said: “We're operating under the safety zone concept. So every guest that comes into the country for government protocols will have to have the PCR tests.
“When they check in, we'll need evidence of the PCR test plus the Travel Visa. But in the bubble, they will not have to have any additional tests. So if they are here beyond five days, they do not require to have the fifth day test. They can enjoy the facilities, all of the amenities we have in place, and just have a great vacation without any additional test requirements.
"When you walk through the property you'll see that we have a number of sanitising stations set up, and protocols in place for the employees coming back. It's been now about four weeks that we've started doing this. Every employee from the top level all the way down through the ranks has to have an antigen test on a weekly basis," Mr Miller added.
“We've partnered with Doctors Hospital to do this and, as you know, they have the two locations at Town Centre Mall, and also at Blake Road. So it's been very easy for us to set it up and schedule our employees and our team members to go there and take the test. I've been doing it now for four or five weeks. It's a very seamless process.
“The test itself is non-evasive, it's easy, and you're in and out of either of the locations in five minutes. So all of our employees now have to do that, as do all of our third party vendors and folks that we work with. It is required that they have the antigen test, and it's to be done and updated every seven days.”
Some tourism stakeholders, such as Bahamas Taxi Cab Union president, Wesley Ferguson, have argued that the so-called “bubble” model for hotel guests cuts smaller tourism stakeholders out of the business.
However, Dionisio D’Aguilar, minister for tourism and aviation, said the Government will continue with the "bubble" model as it has seemed to work well for other jurisdictions in the Caribbean. He added that larger hotels such as Atlantis and Baha Mar would not have agreed to reopen had the Government not approved this.
Comments
tribanon 3 years, 4 months ago
And all that "bubble" model does is re-inforce the "all-inclusive" model the giant land based hotels and monstrous floating hotels having been perfecting in recent decades. Without government policies that support and encourage meaningful linkages to our national economy, tourism tied to the "all-inclusive" model will only put an ever increasing share of the economic pie on the plates of foreign owned corporations. And that of course will do little to help improve the standard of living and quality of life for the vast majority of Bahamians, while leaving our country's finances and foreign currency reserves in a most dismal state.
I've said it time and time again, both D'Aguilar and Minnis are much too easily manipulated by corrupt foreign actors in the tourism industry, especially the cruise ship industry, who greedily want all of the economic benefits from our country's great natural resources (sun, sand and sea) for themselves and to hell with most Bahamians.
Proguing 3 years, 4 months ago
Will the cruise ships also operate in a "bubble"?
tribanon 3 years, 4 months ago
Thanks to our corrupt and all too easily manipulated politicians, the cruise ships are pretty much in their own 'all-inclusive' economic 'bubble' as it is. Their unscrupulous operators pocket for themselves just about every dollar spent by their passengers on onboard shopping and entertainment as well as beaching and other activities on the land based properties they control in The Bahamas.
Be careful not to confuse the 'health' bubbles our devious politicians and their foreign pay masters are now cleverly using to justify what will be new 'economic' bubbles on steroids with not even crumbs for us poor Bahamians.
JokeyJack 3 years, 4 months ago
Tribanon, you are totally correct. Perhaps it is a good thing that this Covid came and is showing us that we are surviving without the cruise ships. This is because we actually survived without them anyway because we got next to nothing from them.
More and more Bahamians are waking up and realizing the true value of things and learning that all that glitters isn't gold.
Rest assured though, the government will not allow any new industries to flourish here because they won't be able to control them. This aragonite thing that Lincoln playing with will be quashed right away - no way the government gonna let ordinary Bahamians get their hands on any real amount of money.
If you allow a slave to earn enough money to buy a horse, he will buy one and ride away on it.
Clamshell 3 years, 4 months ago
Well said, Tribanon. Hear, hear.
ThisIsOurs 3 years, 4 months ago
Added to what tribanon listed is the port. From the minute they mentioned they were putting tbe junkanoo museum right there first thought was why would any tourist go beyond it. Noone is disputting that it will be nice but It's yet "another" private island. And our cabinet swallowed it hook line and sinker. If they had the vision in their head, "how can we get tourists interested in visiting every corner of the island" they would have never approved it. Further what if the junkanoo museum was in Freeport? Not replicated but THE only one. You would have even had a local tourist market flocking to the 2nd city. Because that would have been the only place to get that EXPERIENCE. if they were thinkjng.... if... Yes put some nice eateries and native shops at the port but let the big draws be elsewhere to pull the crowd. Will fish fry become a wasteland? If all my native food experience and entertainment right there why go any further?. But these guys have no vision, no compass, whatevers proposed, they just sit there and bang on the desk and say, yeah and lets let them keep that like that for 25 years, look how nice I look in my suit.
3 years in Rahming (who is one of the better ones) just remember pinewood is flood.
JokeyJack 3 years, 4 months ago
This is so VERY VERY funny. As I predicted, this December thing would be a non-starter. Now they talking about first quarter - LOL !!!! So funny. There won't be no first quarter or second quarter pick up in tourists as long as we have this stupid health visa and other red tape preventing both tourists and Bahamians from moving. We can't even go from island to island.
Now government is just eyeing big money on these freezers they wanna get one for each island - LOL. The money never stops on their side does it?
Get rid of the health visa and get rid of the test requirements, or we can all starve together.
ThisIsOurs 3 years, 4 months ago
the freezers are dead in the water. Wait till the first one breaks down or needs a part replaced like a lightbulb. Watch and see.
TalRussell 3 years, 4 months ago
Today's bargain hunter tourists' first landfall sightins' Mega cement structures is not the same new world horison experience of a colony unpopoulaces out islands, cays and rocks that Comrade Christoper set eyes upon.
Shakehead a quick once for upyeahvote has be a way found slow pace down, returning back colony's more innocent, natural's simpler times experiences, a slow twice for not? Amen!
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