CheapCaribbean Charts 35 Percent Spike in Bookings

A leading tourism website in the region is reporting a 35 percent surge in bookings compared to last year. CheapCaribbean.com now ranks The Bahamas as the fourth most popular destination in the region, according to the company’s vice president of Caribbean Product Development, and it generates seven percent of the website’s annual revenue.

Greg Brown told Guardian Business that The Bahamas is still behind countries such as the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Jamaica in popularity. However, the executive noted that bookings for The Bahamas are definitely on the rise. He believes the success is partly due to compelling marketing campaigns by the Ministry of Tourism, the private sector and promotional boards.

“The air credit campaigns that the private sector and the promotional boards have come up with are working quite well, and they are just more compelling marketing vehicles here in the Caribbean. They definitely shift market share,” said Brown. “CheapCaribbean.com is the number one producer on that air credit campaign simply because our marketing focuses on the Caribbean and Mexico, and is therefore driving demand to the customer.”

In fact, Brown revealed that Nassau/Paradise Island is up by 30 percent, and overall for The Bahamas, bookings have risen 35 percent in comparison to 2011. CheapCaribbean.com is projecting another half percentage point increase by the end of 2012 for The Bahamas.

Despite the company’s successes, Brown admitted to Guardian Business that airfare is a persistent stumbling block when it comes to driving business to the country. He pointed out that, over the years, it has become difficult for Grand Bahama in particular to compete with the Nassau/Paradise Island market because airfare and room rates are more expensive.

However, he noted that this trend is beginning to change. Grand Bahama accounts now for 20 percent of CheapCaribbean.com’s overall airline business. “The airfare used to be a little bit of a stumbling block, particularly into Grand Bahama. With the advent of Vision Airlines, I think we were the first tour operator to load Vision into our system. Initially, we did have some glitches but we worked that out with the Ministry of Tourism and Vision,” he added.

He also believes that adjustments made to the air credit campaign helped. “The other thing that really helped us is that ministry of tourism allowed Grand Bahama to have a lower credit stay for the ad campaign. Then when Vision came in, that helped and then the Ministry of Tourism allowed the minimum stay to be three nights instead of four, so that they can get the initial $250 credit and that really started to generate more business as of November/December 2011,” Brown said.

Since then, coupled with Vision, Brown pointed out that the company has seen incredible growth in Grand Bahama. “We are actually trending 70 percent ahead in Grand Bahama for 2012,” he added. Jim Hobbs and his wife started CheapCaribbean.com in December 2000. Jim Hobbs pointed out to Guardian Business how The Bahamas has played a big role in the success of his business from day one.

“My very first reservation was for somebody wanting to go to The Bahamas from Aruba. The Bahamas has always played a big role. From the beginning, we were doing bookings Nassau/Paradise Island and Grand Bahama,” he explained.

The company now has over 300 employees, of which 180 are reservation agents based out of the United States. CheapCaribbean.com is the largest travel-booking website dedicated to the Caribbean and Mexico. The company was recognized by Ministry of Tourism and Aviation in 2010 and was awarded a Cacique award for Tour Operator of the Year.