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In a story in the Bahamas Tribune, Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace the minister of tourism and aviation for the Bahamas, commented about the situation facing the island chain.
The Royal Oasis and Nassau Beach Hotel closures left the Bahamas as the "most exposed destination by far" in the Caribbean when the recession hit, eliminating more than 1,200 mid-priced rooms, noted Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace the minister of tourism and aviation for the Bahamas.
Explaining that this blunted the Bahamas' competitive edge during a four-year period when stopover visitors were seeking discounts/deals on room rates, Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace said the loss of both properties meant this nation was "caught on the wrong foot" from 2008 onwards.
The result was that the Bahamian hotel sector was largely left with higher-priced properties unable to reduce rates to the same extent, and level, as many Caribbean counterparts, Mr Vanderpool-Wallace said, hence the reason why some regional rivals' arrival statistics were better than this nation's.
"The rooms we lost at the Royal Oasis and Nassau Beach Hotel were the leading priced properties," the minister told Tribune Business. "As a result, we got caught on the wrong foot and could not recover because of the loss of entry level rooms. When the recession hit, we were the most exposed destination by far, because we did not have the same reasonably priced rooms to compete effectively. Those 1,200 rooms disappeared at precisely the point we needed to deal with the recession. We were caught on the wrong foot when the recession hit."
Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace
Minister of Tourism and Aviation, The Bahamas |
