Noel Thompson, Freelance Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
TOURISM INTERESTS have painted a gloomy outlook for the 2001-2002 winter tourist season, which officially starts today.
The September 11 attacks in the United Sates are being blamed as a major contributing factor to the expected low visitor arrivals for the season which, traditionally, lasts from December 15 to April 15.
President of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association, Josef Forstmayr, is expecting a 20 to 30 per cent drop in revenue, depending on the type of property. He stated, however, that the sector was expecting to see strong holiday periods such as Christmas, New Year, The President's Week in February, Spring Break in March as well as Easter.
He noted that the American Thanksgiving holiday weekend saw strong hotel bookings islandwide.
"But in between the holiday periods, you are going to find fewer people making travel decisions and that is going to put up a challenge for us and how we fill them, to determine how successful we will become throughout the winter," he said.
According to Mr. Forstmayr, the sector was likely to take a downturn in terms of its yield, which means that the revenues and room rates will not be as high as hoteliers would like to see them.
"But we have to prepare for that. People will have to control their costs more from the beginning. It is putting a lot more question marks on how we do business and that is the real frustrating part because there is no recipe how to get through this."
Meanwhile, Director of Public Relations for the Sandals chain, Mr. Leo Lambert said Sandals' occupancy levels are about 30 per cent below what they were for the similar period last year.
"Our forward bookings are also between 30 to 40 per cent below the figures last year. The difference is that rates have been significantly discounted. As a result, the yield is much less. We are cautiously optimistic, however, that the situation will improve with anticipated late bookings," he said.
SuperClubs Executive Vice-President Joe Issa said even though the number of arrivals to the island might not reflect it, it is going to be one of the most disastrous seasons the sector will experience in a very long time.
The industry has been forced to advertise and discount more than in the past for the same number of visitors or less, he said.
Mr. Issa declined to state occupancy levels, however.
