NAD: Over 55,000 travelers passed through LPIA last month

Just over 55,000 travelers passed through Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) last month, according to the latest data from the Nassau Airport Development Company (NAD).

While tourism numbers so far this year remain far below record arrivals seen in 2019, the 55,662 departures from LPIA in May far exceed the 238 recorded just a year before, when the country was under lockdown measures and borders were closed to stem the spread of COVID-19.

“Specifically, the dominant US component increased to 54,362 from just 205 in the prior year. In addition, non-U.S. departures recovered to 1,300 from a mere 33 passengers in the corresponding period of the previous year,” The Central Bank of The Bahamas reported in its Monthly Economic and Financial Developments report for May, released yesterday.

“On a year-to-date basis, outward bound traffic declined by 53 percent, surpassing the 49.1 percent falloff in 2020. Reflecting this outturn, non-US departures reduced by 87 percent, exceeding the 44.8 percent decrease last year. In contrast, the reduction in US departures slowed to 46.3 percent from 49.9 percent a year earlier.”

Tourist arrival numbers have incrementally increased month over month since the country fully reopened to tourism at the end of 2020.

Last week, Minister of Tourism and Aviation Dionisio D’Aguilar estimated that almost 300,000 tourists had visited The Bahamas since the start of the year.

Just this week the country’s two largest resorts, Atlantis and Baha Mar, indicated that they were experiencing the highest occupancy levels since the pandemic hit Bahamian shores, at approximately 90 percent and 70 percent respectively.

Also benefiting from improved tourism numbers is the vacation rental market, which in May saw modest improvements, the Central Bank stated.

“As it relates to the vacation rental market, data provided by AirDNA revealed some modest improvements during the month of May, largely supported by gains in domestic demand. In particular, the reduction in total room nights sold moderated to 14.2 percent from 26 percent in the preceding year,” the MEFD report reveals.

“Contributing to this outcome, the declines in bookings for entire place listings and hotel comparable listings tapered to 15.1 percent and 6.3 percent, from 27.7 percent and 11 percent, respectively.

“Conversely, the average daily room rate (ADR) for hotel comparable and entire place listings increased by 2.9 percent and by two percent, to $177.45 and $491.07, respectively. On a year-to-date basis, total room nights sold grew by three percent, underpinned by a 4.8 percent rise in bookings for entire place listings, which offset the 10.4 percent falloff in private room listings.”

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source https://thenassauguardian.com/nad-over-55000-travelers-passed-through-lpia-last-month/