“All-inclusive is the key for the Caribbean to compete against destinations like the Balearics or the Canaries,” Manuel Serrano, commercial director for Princess Hotels & Resorts in the Caribbean told Tourinews during ITB Berlin. Princess Hotels operates resorts in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.
Serrano said that while European markets are no longer the most important ones for the Caribbean, the islands “cannot afford to forget about them.” He pressed the point that Europe is a market that maintains its capacity throughout the year.
While once the most important for the Dominican Republic, today the top three markets for Dominican Republic tourism are now United States, Canada and Colombia. Colombia is third because of the abundance of low fares to several cities in Colombia.
Serrano explained that hotels in the Caribbean compete for the European traveler with the all-inclusive package, which allows tourists to balance their budgets without surprises or overspending, a competitive advantage in summer trips that are more family-oriented.
Serrano told Tourinews that there is concern for travel from Europe because the air capacities are decreasing due to increasing fuel costs. He also said that in the Dominican Republic taxes, landing fees and other fees are increasing, making the destination more expensive. He observed, nevertheless, the winter season that had started slow, had been “extraordinary.” He said people did not book far in advance, but at the end the rooms were filled. He said last-minute travel is becoming more common every day.
He explained how the travel market has changed. He said: “It’s not like before when there was much more anticipation in the sale. So now you have to try to optimize those last-minute seats, your last rooms. We are doing a lot of revenue with these ‘last minute’ sales, then we are already starting to worry about seeing what actions we are going to take for the summer (the offers and the promotional actions we need to do) and we have already started to talk about next winter. Recruitment is already closed and we are already starting to see some numbers in these very early markets. This tells us that Germany is already seeing a better winter than this year in anticipation. Passenger characteristics and attitudes are changing every year.”
“For them and for consumers, prices have also gone up, so it’s the fish that bites the tail,” he told Tourinews. “I can argue, as we all do and rightly so, that our operating costs have gone up a lot, imagine in an ‘all-inclusive’; but also for the tour operator, the airlines or for the citizen who buys a vacation package. Small increases are being made to adjust, just as fuel and airline tickets are going up, we have to somehow pass on the increase in hotel costs in the rate. It is a fight in which we are reaching agreements that are logical. We all understand that increases have to be accepted and therein lies the nuance, to know how far I can go, how far they will let me go or how far we can jointly accept that increase. We are raising prices for next year, but in a moderate way, because at the end of the day the paper can withstand anything: I can apply a brutal increase, but at the end of the day I will not sell and they will not want to promote me. The increases must be reasonable and in line with what people are experiencing.”
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Tourinews
21 March 2023