The Central Bank of The Bahamas’ (CBOB) Monthly Economic and Financial Developments (MEFD) report for September reveals that tourism sustained a slow pace of recovery in that month, explaining that COVID-19 travel restrictions continue to temper the pace of tourism’s return to pre-pandemic levels.
According to the report, data from the Ministry of Tourism shows that total visitor arrivals in August were 189,823 compared to 5,385 in August 2020.
“Air arrivals rose to 86,140 compared to only 3,293 in the prior year, representing 65.7 percent of the arrivals recorded in 2019,” the MEFD report notes.
“In addition, sea traffic expanded to 103,683, from just 2,092 passengers in the comparative 2020 period.
“Disaggregated by major markets, total arrivals to New Providence increased to 112,206, compared to 1,358 a year earlier. Leading this outturn, the air and sea segments reached 69,333 and 42,873, respectively.”
However, for Grand Bahama the report explains that only 11,380 visited that island in August, chiefly through the sea port. Total visitors to the Family Islands in August were 66,237, compared to 3,974 in 3030. Again, sea arrivals (51,071) outpaced air arrivals (15,166).
The report explains that cruise travel continued to be the dominant mode of arrival to The Bahamas.
Nassau Airport Development Company Limited (NAD) numbers revealed 41,057 departures from the dominant US market in September, compared to 1,784 in the same month in 2020.
The CBOB report reveals that data from Airbnb data and analytics company AirDNA showed a continued improvement in the vacation rental market in September compared to the same period in 2020, with total room nights sold more than doubling to 62,339 from 22,292. Occupancy rates also “improved for entire place and hotel comparable listing to 43.4 percent and 42.4 percent, respectively, from approximately 33 percent in both cases last year”.
The bank explained that domestic demand gave a boost to the local vacation rental market.
“Over the nine-month period, total room nights sold increased by 44.6 percent, reflecting respective gains in entire place and hotel comparable bookings, of 46.8 percent and 27.6 percent.”
The post MEFD report: Slow pace of recovery in tourism sector appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.
source https://thenassauguardian.com/mefd-report-slow-pace-of-recovery-in-tourism-sector/
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