Gay Nagle Myers
How has coronavirus impacted business in the Caribbean? That was the question put to three tour operators during a Caribbean Tourism Organization webinar July 15 that examined the role of operators in Caribbean travel in light of Covid-19.
Bob Thye, senior vice president of Apple Leisure Group (ALG), said, "Covid has been nothing short of devastating on our business, our destinations, our employees and our customers.
"We have 56 resorts, and we carry 3.3 million passengers a year," he said. "All hotels closed, all borders closed and all passengers canceled, beginning in March."
ALG canceled all its charter flights and had to furlough part of its staff. "And we worked hard to get customers to rebook rather than cancel," Thye said.
Paul Cleary, CEO and owner of London-based Caribtours, also used the word "devastated" to describe its business. "We are a luxury tour operator, and we had no departures from April through June," he said.
Caribtours is a 41-year-old company, "but we had to adjust our organization as if we were a startup company," he said. "The severity and speed of this crisis took our breath away. I had never heard of the word 'furlough,' and when I had to tell my staff that we did not need some of them for a while, it was very hard."
At Toronto-based G Adventures, "It's certainly been challenging, but it has been a good opportunity to study our business model and how we operate," said Aizaz Sheikh, its director of marketing.
"Covid has leveled the playing field for everyone," he added. "It's been a time of reflection and coming up with plans to rebuild consumer confidence, especially in health and safety procedures."
G Adventures, too, had to reduce staff.
The panelists said that the financial losses incurred as a result of Covid were substantial.
Caribtours had hoped to make $633,000 in 2020. "Instead we will lose $750,000 to this virus," Cleary said.
Sheikh gave no figure but said that Jan. 31 "was our biggest day revenue-wise of all time.
"Since then there have been multiple days with no revenue at all," he said.
ALG has suffered "significant losses," Thye said. "It's a negative net period."
A possible return?
Still, the operators were optimistic and bullish on travel resuming to the Caribbean. The big question is: When?
"From March to May, there was nothing happening, but by the end of May, we began to sense a change," Cleary said.
"People had been in lockdown for two months. They wanted to see their families, hug each other. In June we saw bookings for next January and February, and there's been a steadily growing flow in the last seven weeks," he said, adding that "the Caribbean seems to be the place where they want to go."
As a British-based operator, Caribtours' clients have slightly more of a pick on where clients are able to go, as several islands are accepting European arrivals even as they remain closed to Americans. Cleary said there was interest in Barbados and Grenada, which are currently closed to U.S. visitors, and St. Lucia, which is open. But he reiterated the need for adequate airlift. He pointed out that summer is traditionally low season in the Caribbean. "But I am urging more hotels to open now and for flights to increase ... we could have a mini peak season."
Thye, too, sees an uptick in bookings -- both rebookings and new bookings -- but he said he felt the winter looks better than the fall period right now.
"We've got lots of work to do, and we have to build consumer confidence in traveling and increase airlift to make winter a success," he said. ALG is reviewing its charter-flight program and will have some charter flights this winter.
ALG currently has 24 hotels open in Mexico and the Dominican Republic. Thye said he traveled to the DR recently to see for himself the airport arrival process and to inspect the hygiene protocols that ALG has implemented in its resorts.
"I felt there was a great comfort level for guests, and I am cautiously optimistic going forward," he said.
G Adventures is seeing a bit of a surge in bookings as well. "We are all born explorers, and we will be back responsibly," Sheikh said.
All three operators see a demand for family and multi-generational travel.
"Multi-generational travel is a healthy and safe way to travel in your own 'bubble' with your family or group of friends," Sheikh said. "Our Travel with Confidence + Collection offers 37 tours, four of which are in the Caribbean. Two of those tours are sailing trips, and there is a lot of interest in them."
Thye said that travelers will see amazing deals, attractive offers and incentives to stimulate demand.