PHILIPSBURG--St. Maarten Hospitality and Trade Association (SHTA) says hotel occupancy seemed to be around 25 per cent for November, and timeshare appears to be doing better.
According to the association, a lot of attention is being paid to stayover tourism at this time, given that the traditional high season has started. There are, however, many challenges with data as different resorts have taken a different approach to the COVID-19 crisis. Through November room inventory has been low, as a number of properties was closed due to COVID-19, in addition to those taken offline by Irma, inventory is currently well below 2019 numbers, SHTA said.
“Within that context occupancy seems to be around 25 per cent for November. Timeshare appears to be doing better, although there is little way to tell traditional timeshare bookings from hotel bookings in the current framework for stay-over statistics.”
Weekly arrival numbers have been increasing. “While that is very good news considering where we were a few months ago, currently as far as stayover tourism is concerned, we are running at about 35 per cent of 2019 levels or about 20 per cent of 2016 levels. There is a lot of uncertainty around the numbers, but it is clear that the challenges facing the hospitality industry remain substantial.”
Currently the 60-to-90-day booking window shows higher occupancy rates, again with timeshare leading, “however, we have yet to see the trend of cancellations diminish or turn around.
“There is indeed a chance that we finish the current year with a flurry, having around a 40 per cent occupancy rate (again of lower inventory levels), all things considered that would be a good achievement. The reality is that it will not be enough to support the island.”
SHTA indicated that at no point in the foreseeable future will hotels be operating at a sustainable, much less profitable level. As a result of low arrivals, all business suffers with lack of demand.
“In the context of the broader economy, the result of zero cruise activity is painfully clear. The sector that leaned toward cruise dependency has seen even less activity. The outlook for cruise is at this point non-existent, there are still too many uncertainties as to when, how and where cruise will return. Until the industry actually resumes, cruise arrivals are zero.”
The yachting industry appears to be doing better than hotel and cruise, hopefully they will experience a close to a normal season, which can be considered a very positive development, SHTA indicated.
“It is clear that throughout our economy, with the main pillar still at only a small fraction of the historical levels, broad support for the private sector will remain essential. It is, however, an opportune time to do as much as possible in the areas of product improvement and marketing preparations. Infrastructural improvements should be done now that pressure is low, and while spending on advertising may not be the wisest thing to do right now, preparing for incremental increases in demand and preparing for marketing those trends should be the order of the day. Somehow the business community is expected to manage in this environment of extreme uncertainty. We look forward to some clarity as to the way forward,” SHTA noted.
