Fear of the Zika virus among tourists is cited as part of the reason for a downturn in occupancy and RevPAR at Caribbean hotels in the first four months of 2016, according to STR’s consulting and analytics division.
Compared with the same period in 2015, the Caribbean’s occupancy fell 3.0% to 72.9%. Average daily rate was down 1.4% to US$268.86. Revenue per available room dropped 4.4% to US$195.99.
“An April survey conducted by Travel Leaders Group showed that 96.1% of American consumers indicated that the Zika virus had not had an impact on their travel plans this year,” said Steve Hennis, STR’s vice president for consulting and analytics. “While that sounds positive, the converse would state that 3.9% of Americans did change their travel plans because of the virus. Coming off of a strong 2015, and despite a very modest increase in supply, all of the key performance metrics are down.”
Other data on Caribbean performance:
- 58% of hotels reported an occupancy decline with almost one-fourth of hotels experiencing an occupancy slide of 8% or more
- 47% of hotels reported an ADR decrease
- 56% of hotels reported a RevPAR decrease
Hennis said that a weakened Canadian dollar and the East Coast blizzard in January bear some of the responsibility for the negative performance thus far in 2016, but the overriding issue appears to be fear over the virus.