By BARRY WILLIAMS, Guardian Staff Reporter

barry@nasguard.com

The hotel industry in the region continues to perform well due to a more robust US economy. Statistics published in the 2006 edition of Caribbean Trends in Hotel Industry supports that there is a thriving hotel industry in the Caribbean.

Last year Caribbean hotels raked in an average $111, 414 per available room and $25,541 in per available room profits. This resulted in a 22.9 percent profit margin, according to the statistics published by PKF Hospitality Research, an affiliate of PKF Consulting. Room revenues represented 51.4 percent of the total revenues regional hotels and resorts earned last year. This figure was considered low due to the competition between the high numbers of resorts throughout the region.

Retail and recreational services, included under Other Operated Departments, contributed 18.7 percent to total revenue.

Beverage revenues stood at 8.1 percent. The publication also indicated that over a three-year period from 2003 to 2005, there was a 19 percent increase in visitor arrivals which Hotel Inter-active on the web attributed to "the strong United States economy. This has also meant demand for more diverse products which resorts around the region are scrambling to offer in order to top the competition for more visitors. "In a new era of Caribbean tourism, the bar has been raised again, with demands for even higher standards of leisure and luxury," according to Scott Smith in an article published on the Hotel Interactive web.

This demand has reportedly opened new streams of revenue for resort operators. But overall hotels are performing well. Airlift has also been an important factor to hotel performance in the region. Countries around the Caribbean, including The Bahamas, have been negotiating for direct airlift from countries that are believed to be emerging markets for tourism.

In terms of market demand the publication pointed out development trends, noting that new resort developments are more upscale. Many of them also have a "residential component" which include condominiums or hotel condominiums.