The Tribune

By TANYA SMITHCARTWRIGHT

tsmith-cartwright@tribunemedia.net

AS the COVID-19 virus continues to wreak havoc around the world many stakeholders in the Airbnb industry here are feeling the pinch having little to no bookings.

The UK is on lockdown, Canada has imposed new travel restrictions and the US has put in place testing requirements for those entering the country to slow the spread of the disease.

The country’s tourism industry has felt the punch from the travel slowdown.

While mega resorts and boutique properties have reported low bookings, the Airbnb market is also feeling the negative effects of the pandemic.

Madge Brown owns condos in western New Providence. She had a healthy vacation rental business until COVID-19 entered the picture.

“Things are really bad right now,” she told The Tribune. “For us, Airbnb is a new industry here in The Bahamas which took off in a blaze and then the pandemic came. Naturally, everyone had the idea of vacation at home when the borders were closed. So a few of us who own the rentals said to make ends meet, we would just rent out the places to locals for the weekends, etc. Bad idea.”

She said her foray in renting to locals was not a good experience.

“We thought they were tired of being at home so to change the scenery they would use the rentals for long weekends, etc. Instead they were renting our places for wild parties, destroying the foliage, wrecking the place and worst of all, causing the police to come and shut them down and complaints were filed with neighbours.”

Ms Brown when her business took a negative dive, tried to tap into the European market to see if she could capitalise on the closure of a resort in The Bahamas that catered to Europeans. That did not work out.

She explained, “When we heard Club Med was closing, I contacted my cousin who lives in Europe. She has a travel agency there so I asked her to try to attract those guests who would have been interested in or booked to go to Club Med. She tried, but the virus is now on a rampage over there in Europe again so there are so many restrictions, we could not get anyone to book.

“So the struggle continues. So until this pandemic is over, we have to contend with the trickle we are now getting from a failing tourist product. We will be happy to see the back of COVID-19’s head, believe you me. So now, it’s a rental every once in a while.”

Cathy Kemp owns Airbnb properties in Eleuthera. Her properties are currently occupied, she is also looking forward to the end of the pandemic so that business can be booming again.

“I’m not being affected right at this time because I have guests in now. It’s a little slow, overall. Usually around this time we already have lots of guests coming in, but nothing big is happening as yet. So hopefully the pandemic will slow down so that people can travel. And, the stipulations now make it even more difficult,” she said.

Asked if she has thought of renting it to locals on a monthly basis to get income, she said she would rather hold out for tourist rentals.

She continued, “You rent it and you end up getting all sorts of damage so you might as well just hold out for the tourists.”

Jean Newry, proprietor of Earldora’s in The Bluff, Eleuthera, said although tourists would be welcomed, her guests are mainly locals.

Ms. Newry said, “I am retired. God has blessed me. I do get rentals. I have been blessed like that. I don’t want for anything. The rentals are not like before the pandemic, but enough for me to live, I suppose. I’ve never had too many tourists as guests. My guests mostly are natives. So the absence of tourists is not affecting me too much.”