By YOURI KEMP
Tribune Business Reporter
ykemp@tribunemedia.net
Air arrivals to The Bahamas in 2022 fell just 100,000 short of the 1.6m received in 2019 prior to the COVID-19 pandemic that shut tourism down for much of 2020 and 2021, it was revealed yesterday.
Dr Kenneth Romer, the Ministry of Tourism’s deputy director-general, told the Office of The Prime Minister’s weekly press briefing that air arrivals for 2022 totalled 1.5m as opposed to the last full-year pre-COVID performance.
Asserting that January’s numbers have reinforced the Ministry of Tourism’s belief that The Bahamas can hit 2023’s forecast for a 20 percent increase in visitor arrivals, he added: “We saw that in January of this year that overall tourism arrivals month-over-month, we had 636,000 in 2019 and we were almost to one million, almost 900,000, which represents an increase of some 33 percent when we compare with 2019.
“This is significant for us as a destination. When we speak about air arrivals, for the first time air arrivals actually exceeded pre-pandemic numbers in January 2019. We saw some 129,000 in 2019, and we have now soared to about 132,000 year-over-year for January 2023 compared to 2019. So we believe that we are on the right track when it comes to the significant roads we’re making in overall tourism, and also air arrivals.”
Dr Romer’s comments came as Nassau/Paradise Island resorts revealed that 2022’s room revenue more than doubled year-over-year as the industry benefited from the post-COVID travel rebound.
The Nassau Paradise Island Promotion Board (NPIPB), during a New York event designed to promote the destination to travellers, disclosed that occupancies at member properties rose by 23 percentage points compared to 2021 while room revenue was up year-over-year by 112 percent.
The gains were aided by the fact that 2021 provided relatively weak comparatives given that it was still plagued by COVID-related lockdowns and other restrictions. Still, the figures unveiled by the Nassau Paradise Island Promotion Board provided further evidence of the ongoing recovery, with foreign air arrivals to the destination rising 71 percent to end-December 2022.
Chester Cooper, deputy prime minister and minister of tourism, investments and aviation, said on Monday that January 2023’s tourism arrivals were some 210,000 ahead of comparatives from 2019’s “banner year” as The Bahamas bids to “meet or exceed” 20 percent growth targets.
He told the House of Assembly during the mid-year Budget debate that visitor numbers for the first month of the year were some 33 percent ahead of that pre-COVID performance.
“In terms of arrivals, we see that in 2022, the numbers were up 233 percent over 2021 and we achieved the seven million visitor mark but fell just shy of 2019,” Mr Cooper said. “To understand the gravity of the seven million mark, note that it has only happened once before in the history of The Bahamas. We are targeting 20 percent growth in tourism for 2023, and we have every reason to believe we are going to meet and or exceed that target.”
Describing 2019 as a “banner year for tourism” with over 7.2m visitors, Mr Cooper added: “January 2023 is a 33 percent increase over 2019 and this trend is holding throughout the islands.” The deputy prime minister yesterday said there had been a 400 percent rise in sea arrivals for Grand Bahama, with “momentum growing” ahead of the Carnival cruise port being completed next year.
Departure tax collections have increased with the growth in visitor arrivals following their COVID-induced interruption, with Mr Cooper saying: “For the first six months of this fiscal year, departure tax collections totaled $71.5m, an improvement of $45m or 85 percent over the prior year.
“In the first half of the year, we collected 73.7 percent of the Budget target for departure tax. Beyond arrivals in 2022, room revenues, average daily rates, overall occupancies and spending by cruise visitors are all up.”
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