Montego Bay, 6 JAN 2003 - The third annual PricewaterhouseCoopers Tourism Barometer Survey, has revealed that many Jamaican hoteliers are optimistic that hotel occupancies will rise significantly for the 2002/03 winter season compared with 2001/02 but they are not as confident about room rates.
The survey found that 51% of hoteliers believe that occupancies will increase, but 82% are of the opinion that room rates will fall. Approximately 23.5% feel that rates could be down by 10% or more. "Industry executives are very worried about earnings in their sector and they cite rate discounting to maintain market share and fierce competition as being high among the reasons for this," said Peter Williams, a partner in the PricewaterhouseCoopers' hospitality industry group.
The survey showed that more hoteliers are optimistic about the medium term prospects of the industry than they were a year ago. The PricewaterhouseCoopers survey found that 43% of the hoteliers polled were optimistic about the future of the industry compared with only 34% who were optimistic last year. The number who are uncertain about the industry's future is, however, significant as 51% say that they are uncertain about the future prospects of the industry compared with 53% who felt this way in 2002. Only 6% are pessimistic.
"In 2002 the industry was under the cloud of 9/11," said Peter Pearson, the lead partner in the Montego Bay based hospitality services group. "Although many are clearly worried by the tension in the Middle East, poor global economics and Jamaica's image issues, a large number believe that these factors are outweighed by the island's market position, its natural advantages, increased airlift, the resurgence of the public's desire to travel and the perception of Jamaica as a safe destination in the global context," he added.
PricewaterhouseCoopers polled over 125 hotel owners, chief executive officers, general managers and financial controllers by phone, fax and e-mail for the 2003 survey. The response rate was approximately 30%. Represented by hotels, approximately 9,000 rooms were polled and the response rate as a percentage of the number of rooms polled was approximately 63%.
PricewaterhouseCoopers www.pwc.com is the world's largest professional services organisation. Drawing on the knowledge and skills of more than 120,000 people in 144 countries, we build relationships by providing services based on quality and integrity. PricewaterhouseCoopers refers to the network of member firms of PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited, each of which is a separate and independent legal entity.
