Bermuda Hotel Occupancy Rate
2009 and 2010
PAGE DEINDEXED
Jan 8th 2010
Well the sad story continues in Bermuda. The economic slump particularly in America has been hitting the Bermuda travel and tourism industry very hard. Royal Gazette, Bermuda's main and only daily newspaper, released an estimate that in 2009 the hotel occupancy rate in Bermuda was down by 11% compared to the previous year. Bermuda Hotels Association (BHA) projects that this trend is likely to continue in 2010 as well.
The present estimates show that in January, Bermuda is likely to see only 19% of occupancy rates. So can you imagine that over 80% of the rooms in all hotels together are likely to remain vacant. In February and March, the occupancy is likely to suffer further and reach figures like 13% and 12% respectively. The figures of course will keep improving as the tourism season begins over the summer (from April through September).
But hats off to the three hotel owner groups who despite such severe downturns have decided to go ahead with building new hotels in Bermuda. And the three new hotels are:
1. Carl Bazarian's Park Hyatt in St. George's Bermuda
2. St. Regis in Hamilton, which is already marketing its hotel-serviced "private residences" to Americans.
3. Ariel Sands, who are supposed to have entered into a preliminary agreement with a Canadian developer, which could see work begin later this year on redeveloping the property.
But there is another good news for the travelers. Bermuda Department of Tourism, Bermuda Alliance for Tourism and Bermuda Hotel Association together have come out with a 50% off sale scheme with some participating hotels.
The 50% sale offer is going to last through March 2010. This along with the last minute bookings are big hopes that the hotel occupancy rates in Bermuda will eventually not look as bad as it appears now.
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