Tobago Pounded by Low Hotel Occupancy Rates

For a second year the occupancy rate at hotels in Tobago over the Christmas holiday seems to be low, as a result of the ongoing battle with the Covid-19 pandemic.

Tobago Hotel and Tourism Association president Christopher James said that while he does not have the figures from the various hotels, villas and guest houses as yet, the reports the association has been receiving are that bookings are slow.

“Part of the problem, as well, is that Caribbean Airlines is still not back up to the full flight capacity, due to the virus, so this is deterring people from booking. Along with the Omicron virus in Trinidad, people are skeptical to move around,” he told local newspaper The Saturday Express.

James noted another fly in the ointment is that international flights have not resumed on the island and many tourists from cold countries would usually come from November month.

“British Airways is resuming flights from January 10 and KLM airlines later that month, so we are hopeful that the occupancy rate will be a lot better and the Covid numbers decrease, as the hotel industry is now solely depending on domestic travels.”

He added the industry is keeping its fingers crossed that more people might visit to bring in the New Year.

In September, the World Travel & Tourism Council’s annual Economic Impact Report indicated that the pandemic delivered a blow of $33.9 billion in lost revenue to the Caribbean’s travel and tourism sector, lowering the sector’s contribution to GDP by 58 per cent, higher than the global average. Some 680,000 tourism-related jobs were lost, representing nearly one-fourth of all jobs in the sector.

According to Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association’s (CHTA) data partner ForwardKeys, the Caribbean outperformed its global counterparts in terms of international arrivals in July 2021 relative to July 2019, experiencing an overall decline of 13.2 percent compared to other regions, which suffered losses ranging from 21 percent (Central America) to 85.5 percent (Asia Pacific).

The US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico were the top-performing Caribbean destinations, with arrivals up by 106.3 percent and 39.7 percent, respectively.

Source: The Saturday Express