The latest data from STR paints a grim reality for hotels in
the Caribbean, and the bottom hasn’t been hit yet.
On March 28, occupancy was 10.6% and revenue per available
room was down 89% from a year earlier, said STR’s Emile Gourieux in a webinar
on Friday. Puerto Rico had 7.6% occupancy, the Dominican Republic 7.1% and
Barbados a lowly 1.5%.
Gourieux said STR expects that declines will continue
through 2020 and that there will be a “strong comeback for 2021 but most hotels
will not return to their peak RevPAR and high occupancies until 2022.”
He pointed out that China already has started back on the
road to recovery.
“I feel that the demand for travel will be even stronger
than before, and the best thing to do now is to take care and to start planning
and preparing for the return of demand,” he said.