Don1 see what the whiteman say here

[Assasin]

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/fligh...aribbean_N.htm

[Assasin]

aribbean Crunch

February 06, 2009
By Maggie Rauch

When flight capacity to the U.S. Virgin Islands was threatened by pullouts that would have led to a 30 percent reduction in airlift this winter, the territory's tourism authority kicked into high gear to staunch the bleeding. After hiring a consultant, establishing a joint public/private committee, and pleading its case one airline at a time, the USVI was able to salvage some key routes and keep its airlift stable this winter and beyond. For this coming March, flights into St. Thomas will be up 8 percent compared to last year. Flights into St. Croix will be up 14 percent.

"This was a major concern for us. Airlift is obviously the critical medium to get to the territory," says Beverly Nicholson-Doty, commissioner of the USVI's Department of Tourism.

Flights have been cut across the Caribbean, with some destinations suffering more than others. It's just one of many challenges that the islands are facing in attracting all types of travel, including meetings. Regulations requiring Americans to carry passports still present some hassle; as ever, the risk of nasty weather during hurricane season makes parts of the region a risky selection for a few months every year; and with the global economic crunch, the word "resort" can carry a perception of excess.

"We believe that 2009 will be a challenging year for the Caribbean," says Hugh Riley, interim secretary general of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) and co-chief operating officer for the Caribbean Tourism Development Company, based in New York. "It is difficult to assess how deep and how long those challenges will exist."

Many players in the region's hospitality industry say that groups are still booking meetings and incentives at a rate close to what they did in recent years, but with shorter lead times. Still, it seems everyone in the Caribbean is preparing for things to get worse before they get better. And they are using every weapon in their arsenal—seasonal promotions, development of new hotel product, marketing initiatives, and lobbying—to keep their perceived value up and their meetings bookings in the black.

Economic Downturn

When insurance giant AIG's corporate meetings and incentives became front-page scandals, resort operators in the Caribbean had to know it was not good for business.

Hotel general managers interviewed for this story all acknowledged that meetings of a particular type—insurance companies, financial services firms—dropped off considerably in the fall of 2008. They are fighting back with promotions designed to help meeting planners show bean counters that they have scored a deal in the Caribbean.

Rio Mar Beach Resort and Spa, a Wyndham Grand Resort, in Puerto Rico is offering a 10 percent discount on the master account to groups of 10 or more. And the property's director of sales and marketing, Jeremy Marquard, says that he's willing to cut other deals as well.

"Maybe normally you'd upgrade five rooms to suites, but now you'd upgrade eight or ten," he says. The goal is to communicate to planners that "if you choose Rio Mar, you are saving money."

Chris Calabrese, vice president and general manager of the JW Marriott Cancun Resort & Spa and the Casa-Magna Marriott, says that he has given something like a rain check to groups that couldn't meet as planned this year.

"If it's someone we have a longstanding relationship with, and they tell us, 'We're just not going to be able to pull off this event this year,' we allow them to rebook without any penalties within a one-year period," Calabrese says. "If they rebook that piece of business in a one-year period, we apply the deposits to the next meeting. You're trying to form an alliance with your clients, and it's [how you treated them in] those tough times that they remember."

He adds that the JW Marriott is hurting more in the current economic climate than its sister property: "Some groups have said, 'The CasaMagna is going to meet our needs this time, and we'll be back in the JW next time.'"

Getting There's Half the Battle

With all of the belt-tightening going on, one might think the Caribbean could benefit as a lower-cost alternative for some groups looking to meet or hold an incentive at an international destination. But with cutbacks in flight capacity to the region, the travel can be expensive and impractical. Flight capacity may be the biggest challenge that the region faces. Several key Caribbean meetings destinations get fewer flights, and Puerto Rico in particular was hurt in mid-2008, when American Airlines stopped using San Juan as a hub.

The airlift cutbacks have caused some groups looking at the Caribbean to take their business somewhere else instead.

"Especially due to reduction in flights to the Caribbean, clients have changed destinations for their incentives," says Harith Wickrema, president of event planning firm Harith Productions, based in Philadelphia.

Steve Collins, president of Resort Meeting Source in Breckenridge, CO, says he had one client, a church group, move its meeting stateside after encountering trouble booking flights to the Caribbean.

"[My client] was trying to schedule a meeting for this month in the Bahamas," Collins said in November. "We were doing site selection research last winter and spring, but I could not find any airlines willing to quote me a group airfare for November—in their eyes it was still too far out. Because we could not get a confirmed airfare to allow them to prepare their budget, they ended up booking Daufuskie Island Resort in South Carolina instead."

It was that kind of story that Nicholson-Doty and her USVI colleagues sought to avoid when they lobbied individual airlines late summer.

"We went and collected statistical data, looked at key hubs, targeted specific airlines," Nicholson-Doty says of the destination's efforts to keep up service to its airports. "We came to the table saying, 'How can we work together to grow and sustain our business?'" The talks with airlines led to key routes, such as US Airways' Charlotte and Philadelphia flights, being retained. The USVI's research also gave rise to some tweaks, including Delta Air Lines adjusting a flight into St. Thomas from Atlanta an hour later to allow for travelers from Copenhagen and other European destinations to make the connection.

Neighboring destinations have not been so fortunate. Based on data from OAGback Aviation Solutions, the hardest hit Caribbean destinations, measured by comparing scheduled seats for March of 2009 to March of 2007, are Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, and the Dominican Republic. All three have seen capacity drop by double-digit percentages.

"In the last six months of 2008, we lost three key flights from JFK," says Rob Smith, president and CEO of the Aruba Tourism Authority. But in some cases, where major U.S.-based airlines are cutting back, smaller or international competitors are swooping in. JetBlue now serves 11 Caribbean destinations; Spirit Airlines and Delta Air Lines have also upped their Caribbean capacity.

In the case of Aruba, the flights the island lost have already been made up, according to Smith: "It has all been restored through other partners," he says. "We just added four flights a week through Panama on Copa Airlines." Flight capacity to Aruba will be up 11 percent this March compared to two years ago, according to OAGback.

Fading Red Tape

When the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative first began requiring Americans to carry a passport for travel to the Caribbean, meetings destinations there lost a competitive differentiator over Latin America. But the problems seem to have faded. The number of U.S. passports issued in 2007 went up about 50 percent over 2006, to 18.4 million, according to the U.S. State Department. In 2008, it went down to 16.2 million; although still higher than the 12.1 million issued in 2006, much of the red tape surrounding passport acquisition has minimized.

Blue Skies or Silver Lining?

Even with the challenges the Caribbean region is facing in attracting visitors, development continues. Last January, the 428-room Hyatt Regency Trinidad opened in Port of Spain as Trinidad and Tobago's first major meetings property.

The Dominican Republic's development, slowed by Hurricane Gustav in August, is seeing dramatic growth in high-end, meetings-ready properties. The Ritz-Carlton, Cap Cana is scheduled to open in 2010, construction is underway on Trump at Cap Cana, and Four Seasons announced a year ago that it will open a property in Santo Domingo.

In the Bahamas, already a big meetings destination, the opening of the $2 billion Baha Mar project in 2012 in Nassau will bring a Caesars Resort Hotel Casino, as well as Sheraton, St. Regis, W, Westin, and Wyndham.

"Meetings are important because groups move the needle fastest," CTO leader Riley says. "Corporate groups travel with the philosophy that the destination and the client must deliver an experience the individual cannot duplicate. You know that out of that experience will come stories that everyone is proud to tell about your destination."

Originally published Jan. 1, 2009

[Don1]

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/fligh...aribbean_N.htm

Interesting article..... this excerpt is instructive:


Flying against the trend is JetBlue Airways Corp., which plans to add daily flights to Puerto Rico from New York, Orlando and Boston starting this fall, and Virgin Atlantic, whose president Richard Branson told The Associated Press that he also might add extra flights from the U.S. to the Caribbean.

"Where things are seriously going wrong is in America," Branson said. "Virgin America is a great airline, it's doing very well. We have young planes which are more fuel-efficient than the ones American Airlines has."

Smaller islands are asking regional carriers such as LIAT and Air Jamaica to increase flights and coordinate schedules to fill gaps left by American, said Chastanet, who is also St. Lucia's tourism minister.

Some islands also are turning to Europe, where the euro has risen against the dollar, making Caribbean vacations more attractive.
"There's an opportunity given the strength of the euro," said Allegra Kean-Moorehead, spokeswoman for the U.S. Virgin Islands tourism department. "It's a market that has a huge amount of potential."




Circumstances alter cases.

[1of1]

I read something once which said that the best opportunities are present in the worst of times, I have yet to master this, although it seems to be true

[Don1]

I read something once which said that the best opportunities are present in the worst of times, I have yet to master this, although it seems to be true

Warren Buffett says the same:

Invest when others are fearful.... stand aside when they are enthusiastic.

[1of1]

nuh him buy out a heap of aig stock, or fanni mae, or one of dem