Covid-19 still having its way with global economic developments and that includes here in The Bahamas as reflected in the Central Bank’s latest monthly and economic development report.
The report points out that for the month of February there was a high value-added air component remaining depressed and the sea segment on pause.
Based on data from the Ministry of Tourism, total foreign arrivals by first port of entry fell to 23,619 visitors.
That’s markedly lower than the 687,200 arrivals during the same period last year.
On the other hand, sea arrivals were pretty much absent. For the major islands, New Providence arrivals accounted for a mere 3.8 per cent in 2020; a figure reflective of the 99.7 per cent decrease in sea and 88 per cent drop in air traffic.
Furthermore, arrivals to Grand Bahama were only 2.8 per cent and visitors to the family islands, 3.1 per cent.
A sample of large hotels here in the capital and paradise island only confirmed the deterioration in the hotel sector performance.
In January, the estimated room revenue shrank by a whopping 90.4 per cent while the number of room nights sold dropped considerably by 92.4 per cent.
This as the average daily room rate rose by 25.6 per cent to $300 plus dollars.
