USA Today
ST. THOMAS, U.S. Virgin Islands — Ocean-view rooms steps from the sand at Bolongo Bay Beach Resort are selling for $265 on a mid-November Monday. But this one costs just 25 cents daily, plus tax, in a special deal.
The promotional package – $337.68 bottom line for three nights' lodging and airfare from Washington, D.C., plus $50 in dining and activities credits – is a steal. Billed as a celebration of the new U.S. quarter honoring the Virgin Islands and offered in October by BookIt.com, it was partly subsidized by the U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Tourism. The idea: to help fill rooms and airline seats in a slow period when the Caribbean is jittery about what winter high season will bring.
"I had friends who called me and asked if I'd lost my mind," says Bolongo Bay general manager Paul Doumeng, 47, sitting in its tiki hut-style beach bar, where Jimmy Buffett is on the sound system and rum punch flows.
The government didn't cover all the cost of the now-finished promotion, "but the idea was to capture" visitors, he says. "Once they're here, they spend money" on food, drink and sunset sails.
Coming off a generally dismal 2009, "it's a crapshoot (for the Caribbean) this winter in terms of tourism," says Gay Myers, Caribbean editor for the Travel Weekly trade publication. The year has been bad "for just about every island," says Myers, though budget-all-inclusive-packed Cuba, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic reported upticks.
Visitors to St. Thomas – 2.4 million in 2008, most of them cruisers and Americans – were down about 12% through September, says Allegra Moorehead of the U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Tourism (visitusavi.com). But seats on non-stop flights from Puerto Rico and the States to St. Thomas in December will be up 13.8%, a USA TODAY analysis of schedules from OAG –Official Airline Guide finds. More cruisers are expected this season, mainly because 6,296-passenger Oasis of the Seas is due to call weekly.
How low can they go in high season?
There are other auspicious signs across the Caribbean as tourism enters its high season, from Thanksgiving to April. Islands escaped hurricane devastation. New or upgraded hotels are opening. Seats on non-stop flights from the USA are up 12.4% December through March vs. the same period last year, the OAG analysis finds.
Discounting, free nights and resort credits abound, as lodgings and tourist boards do all they can to have a better year.
St. Maarten, for instance, is stimulating bookings with a $50 daily credit a room ("SXM Bucks") that can be used at participating businesses. Bookings must be made by Monday.
Resorts such as the El San Juan Hotel & Casino are goosing business with discounts for prepaying – under $150 on slow days. The Westin Resort, Aruba, gave early-booking discounts and has a more than 50% increase in holiday-season reservations than 2008, it reports.
"People are leery" of spending unless they think they're getting value, says Bolongo's Doumeng, whose low-rise, friendly but unfancy family-run resort caters to the budget-minded.
English spoken, and the dollar still speaks
The U.S. Virgin Islands – which include St. Thomas, St. Croix and St. John – have been doing better than some because of their much-promoted "no passport required" policy and the fact that the dollar is the currency and English the official language. It doesn't hurt that free shots of flavored rum are handed out as visitors arrive at the St. Thomas airport and at cruise-ship docks aboard discount Caribbean cruises.
Still, St. Thomas cabdriver Ivan Nicholas (a service-oriented charmer who calls himself "Ivan the Terrific") says his earnings have declined 15%-20% this year.
Driving a visitor on a $50, two-hour island tour in his Ford van, Nicholas, 46, points out thrifty tourist options such as green-shuttered Duffy's Love Shack in a parking lot by the St. John ferry. It's advertising $1.50 beef tacos Tuesday and pours free drinks for women after 9 p.m. Wednesdays.
As the van snakes around curves on the lush, hilly 13-mile-long island, he ticks off some positives. St. Thomas remains a big cruise destination, and there's excitement that Oasis of the Seas' multitudes will be lying on the white sand at Magens Bay and bargaining for jewelry and electronics at dozens of duty-free shops that line the streets and alleys in the capital of Charlotte Amalie. Shopping is a huge draw, though visitors also can snorkel, dive, sail and fish.
While his passenger frets at the jam of taxis and open-air "safari buses" at scenic spots such as (Sir Francis) Drake's Seat on a high point where you can spy surrounding islands, Nicholas smiles at the crush of camera-toting cruisers and the traffic jam heading into Charlotte Amalie. Four cheap Caribbean cruises are in today, he announces. Good for business.
Back at Bolongo, only 46% full on this pre-Thanksgiving weekday, some guests choose to dine in and drink till they can't on the resort's optional all-inclusive plan. St. Thomas at night is viewed with trepidation, because of the island's reputation for crime. Even Nicholas is hesitant to go into some neighborhoods.
This visitor enjoys Bolongo's calypso and limbo night, but can't resist heading to Duffy's – for a tab under $15, non-stop music and dancing. Cabs are hailed with some haggling over prices, which are set by the government but can be a matter of dispute.
When it comes to an early-morning airport run for departure, the call goes to Ivan the Reliable. He's at Bolongo at 6:45 a.m. – 15 minutes early – and points his van toward the airport.
"What drives our economy is you," he says. "We like Americans, because they spend money." Europeans generally aren't good tippers, he says.
"If people come here and tell their family and friends it is a nice place," he says earnestly, "then other people will come."
The promotional package – $337.68 bottom line for three nights' lodging and airfare from Washington, D.C., plus $50 in dining and activities credits – is a steal. Billed as a celebration of the new U.S. quarter honoring the Virgin Islands and offered in October by BookIt.com, it was partly subsidized by the U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Tourism. The idea: to help fill rooms and airline seats in a slow period when the Caribbean is jittery about what winter high season will bring.
"I had friends who called me and asked if I'd lost my mind," says Bolongo Bay general manager Paul Doumeng, 47, sitting in its tiki hut-style beach bar, where Jimmy Buffett is on the sound system and rum punch flows.
The government didn't cover all the cost of the now-finished promotion, "but the idea was to capture" visitors, he says. "Once they're here, they spend money" on food, drink and sunset sails.
Coming off a generally dismal 2009, "it's a crapshoot (for the Caribbean) this winter in terms of tourism," says Gay Myers, Caribbean editor for the Travel Weekly trade publication. The year has been bad "for just about every island," says Myers, though budget-all-inclusive-packed Cuba, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic reported upticks.
Visitors to St. Thomas – 2.4 million in 2008, most of them cruisers and Americans – were down about 12% through September, says Allegra Moorehead of the U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Tourism (visitusavi.com). But seats on non-stop flights from Puerto Rico and the States to St. Thomas in December will be up 13.8%, a USA TODAY analysis of schedules from OAG –Official Airline Guide finds. More cruisers are expected this season, mainly because 6,296-passenger Oasis of the Seas is due to call weekly.
How low can they go in high season?
There are other auspicious signs across the Caribbean as tourism enters its high season, from Thanksgiving to April. Islands escaped hurricane devastation. New or upgraded hotels are opening. Seats on non-stop flights from the USA are up 12.4% December through March vs. the same period last year, the OAG analysis finds.
Discounting, free nights and resort credits abound, as lodgings and tourist boards do all they can to have a better year.
St. Maarten, for instance, is stimulating bookings with a $50 daily credit a room ("SXM Bucks") that can be used at participating businesses. Bookings must be made by Monday.
Resorts such as the El San Juan Hotel & Casino are goosing business with discounts for prepaying – under $150 on slow days. The Westin Resort, Aruba, gave early-booking discounts and has a more than 50% increase in holiday-season reservations than 2008, it reports.
"People are leery" of spending unless they think they're getting value, says Bolongo's Doumeng, whose low-rise, friendly but unfancy family-run resort caters to the budget-minded.
English spoken, and the dollar still speaks
The U.S. Virgin Islands – which include St. Thomas, St. Croix and St. John – have been doing better than some because of their much-promoted "no passport required" policy and the fact that the dollar is the currency and English the official language. It doesn't hurt that free shots of flavored rum are handed out as visitors arrive at the St. Thomas airport and at cruise-ship docks aboard discount Caribbean cruises.
Still, St. Thomas cabdriver Ivan Nicholas (a service-oriented charmer who calls himself "Ivan the Terrific") says his earnings have declined 15%-20% this year.
Driving a visitor on a $50, two-hour island tour in his Ford van, Nicholas, 46, points out thrifty tourist options such as green-shuttered Duffy's Love Shack in a parking lot by the St. John ferry. It's advertising $1.50 beef tacos Tuesday and pours free drinks for women after 9 p.m. Wednesdays.
As the van snakes around curves on the lush, hilly 13-mile-long island, he ticks off some positives. St. Thomas remains a big cruise destination, and there's excitement that Oasis of the Seas' multitudes will be lying on the white sand at Magens Bay and bargaining for jewelry and electronics at dozens of duty-free shops that line the streets and alleys in the capital of Charlotte Amalie. Shopping is a huge draw, though visitors also can snorkel, dive, sail and fish.
While his passenger frets at the jam of taxis and open-air "safari buses" at scenic spots such as (Sir Francis) Drake's Seat on a high point where you can spy surrounding islands, Nicholas smiles at the crush of camera-toting cruisers and the traffic jam heading into Charlotte Amalie. Four cheap Caribbean cruises are in today, he announces. Good for business.
Back at Bolongo, only 46% full on this pre-Thanksgiving weekday, some guests choose to dine in and drink till they can't on the resort's optional all-inclusive plan. St. Thomas at night is viewed with trepidation, because of the island's reputation for crime. Even Nicholas is hesitant to go into some neighborhoods.
This visitor enjoys Bolongo's calypso and limbo night, but can't resist heading to Duffy's – for a tab under $15, non-stop music and dancing. Cabs are hailed with some haggling over prices, which are set by the government but can be a matter of dispute.
When it comes to an early-morning airport run for departure, the call goes to Ivan the Reliable. He's at Bolongo at 6:45 a.m. – 15 minutes early – and points his van toward the airport.
"What drives our economy is you," he says. "We like Americans, because they spend money." Europeans generally aren't good tippers, he says.
"If people come here and tell their family and friends it is a nice place," he says earnestly, "then other people will come."
