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Published: Friday | August 28, 2009
Dionne Rose, Business Reporter
Left: John Issa, chairman of SuperClubs resorts. Right: Wayne Cummings, president of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association. - File photos
Early signs that the United States economy is turning has raised hopes in Jamaican resorts that the hospitality market will begin to see its own green shoots this winter season, still more than three months away.
John Issa, chairman of the SuperClubs resort chain, says he expects the upcoming peak season, which kicks off annually on December 15, to perform better than the last.
The US generally accounts for more than 70 per cent of Jamaica's tourism market, but declined to 63.7 per cent over the first half of this year, the latest Jamaica Tourist Board data to June 2009 shows.
"Our forward bookings are looking quite healthy and we are hoping that we will get quite back to normality by then," said Issa.
"The situation in the real economy is so volatile, you sort of have to assess it week by week, but I am hoping to have a reasonable season."
Occupancy hopes
The hotelier said he is hoping to average 80 per cent occupancy rates across his chain of hotels, about the same as last year, but he acknowledged that discounting has cut into earnings.
That compares to about 60 per cent to 61 per cent for the industry, according to the tourism ministry.
"What we hope to do is improve our yields because we have had to be offering specials for most of this year. We are hoping to be get back to former pricing but a lot depends on the economies in our market countries," Issa said.
Tourism arrivals for January to April 2009, the peak of the winter tourism season, showed that total visitor arrivals declined by 8.7 per cent to 1.06 million, according to data from the Ministry of Tourism.
In the same period for 2008, arrivals were above 1.16 million.
For January to June, however, arrivals rose 3.4 per cent to 971,191 compared to 939,352 in half-year 2008.
Ip tourism dp up
The Planning Institute of Jamaica has reported that tourism GDP rose 1.3 per cent over the January to June period. The Bank of Jamaica's most current data also indicate a 3.2 per cent rise - in US dollar terms - in spend per tourist in the quarter to March 2009, moving from US$524 million in the 2008 period to US$540.9 million this year.
Wayne Cummings, president of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourism Association, is predicting a marginal improvement in the 2009/10 winter season as global economies begin to shrug off their recessions.
"I wouldn't even dare to suggest the numbers, but I think that the sense of confidence in the consumer in the tourism markets is improving and that should even have a greater effect; and the fact that Jamaica has been holding steady," said Cummings.
He, too, was concerned that vacationers may not be willing to pay more and that yields, that is, guest expenditure per room, would not improve.
"The one thing I have not seen turn the corner is the ability for us to get a good rate. People are remaining very savvy about what they spend on," he said.
Earnings for the winter period rose a marginal 0.8 per cent, from US$752 million last year to US$758 million between January and April this year, according to tourism ministry data.
Discounts offered Discount of 30 per cent to 50 per cent are still on offer, according to Cummings.
"I am not really expecting that to improve greatly but comparatively, I believe that we are going to be marginally up, particularly because the tourism indicators have so much to do with the economic outlook," he said. "We must remain somewhat cautious with regards with the inflows."
Edmund Bartlett, minister of tourism, says the Government has been driving the market and negotiating more airlifts into Jamaica.
"The airlift situation for Jamaica is looking quite prosperous for Jamaica with a number of airlines now offering additional vacations out of the US, as well as Europe," he said.
Bartlett, who spoke to the Financial Gleaner on Monday while on vacation in Italy, said that he was in the process of concluding negotiations with Blue Panorama Airlines, an airline based in Rome, to bring a number of flights from the Italian capital to Montego Bay via Havana, Cuba.
"This company takes more than 100,000 visitors to Cuba per year," he said.
Jamaica's attempt to tag on to that arrangement will be facilitated through a memorandum of understanding to be signed with Cuba in November, Bartlett said.
Among the latest, JetBlue Airways, a United States-based airline, will add flights from Orlando and Boston to Montego Bay. dionne.rose@gleanerjm.com
...... hmmmmm
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