Bonaire Entre Nous newsletter

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	Issue # 87 April, 2007
	Entre Nous Bonaire's Monthly Newsletter (Click here to subscribe or unsubscribe)

Entre Nous is the monthly newsletter from the Tourism Corporation Bonaire (TCB), Netherlands Antilles. In this newsletter you will find the accomplishments of TCB in Bonaire, North America, South America and Europe as well as the newest developments within the tourism industry.

We hope that you will read it with pleasure and if you have something that you think is relevant for the tourism sector to know just fax it to 717-8408 or e-mail to: info@tourismbonaire.com.

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

TCB BONAIRE Local Report
	From the Director's Desk Bonaire Ambassadors

TCB WORLDWIDE TCB - Europe Report
	Bonaire scores at ITB Germany Bonaire at RTL’s Hotlist Clipping report reaches up to 800K euro! Dick Lucas honored by Ronella
TCB - New York Report
	North America Posts 6.7% Year-Over-Year Growth for 2006! Scuba Tour-ing Continues Bonaire Dive Into Summer; Two Months to Go! Bonaire EZ News Dive Newswire Press Releases Press Visits Editorial Highlights
TCB - South America Report
	Dutch Antilles Express new route Caracas DAE meeting the Media Press and travel partners 2007 Venezuelan holidays More Venezuelan diving groups in Easter holidays First PADI Festival promotional visit to Brazil High income tourists choose Bonaire! Bonaire Press Releases Stinapa promoted in Conviasa onboard magazine Decostop from Brazil Our alliance with Turismo Maso Sharing 10 Years together! Free publicity for Bonaire in ESPN Bonaire News ... 2007 Calendar South America trade shows
NEWS FROM THE TOURISM SECTOR
	Kiteboarding Bonaire kid’s clinic New Monday Night Dinner & Show at Casablanca Restaurant Dive Friends Bonaire Offers Special Events to Celebrate Bonaire’s Rincon Day 2007 Women's Windsurf Week in Bonaire: July 14-21, 2007 Calendar of Events

TCB BONAIRE

LOCAL REPORT

From the Director's Desk

Ms. Ronella Croes The tourism outlook for Bonaire and the Caribbean is closely tied to the global economy as we are all very much aware. I would like to share with the EntreNous readers some of the information and observations from the CTO (Caribbean Tourism Organization. ) It generally applies to the Caribbean region as a whole and has a direct influence on Bonaire as well. We will address the CTO report in the next few issues of EntreNous. We wish to thank the CTO for allowing us to share the following:

There are a number of factors affecting the island's economic outlook the first of which is the US ECONOMY - and whether or not a recession is on the horizon.
The optimism of the majority of leading economists who predicted a soft landing for the US economy in 2007 back in December received something of a jolt in late February when stock markets around the globe took a sudden and severe tumble. The Dow Jones industrials dropped over 416 points in one day following four days of smaller losses and on the heels of a nearly 9% drop in the Shanghai Composite.
Index only a day after China's share prices hit a record close. Other factors weighing on the US market were a downward revision in the 4th quarter GDP results, a disappointing report on durable goods orders, and remarks by former Fed Chairman Greenspan to the affect that a U.S. recession was possible by yearend. Not all the news was bad, however; on the same day that stocks went into freefall, The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, which had been only marginally up in January, reached a five-and-half year high in February with upbeat expectations for the labor market.

This was followed only days later by a gloomier report from the Reuters/University of Michigan survey. However, the Michigan report pointed out that falling consumer confidence was almost entirely in lower income households which we have pointed out previously the most vulnerable in this economy. Current Fed Chairman, Bernanke, has also downplayed Greenspan's comments, telling Congress that the US economy is fundamentally sound and that he expects growth to continue but at a slower rate. In fact, the downward revision to 2.2% growth for the final quarter of 2006 was more in line with the Fed's earlier projections and their expectations for most of this year. The bottom line, at least for now, is that the market was overdue for a correction according to most analysts and that no single trigger was responsible for the big sell-off. Individual investors have been advised not to panic and there were short-lived signs of a rally of modest proportions. - Certainly investors are much more resilient today and given the high levels of consumer confidence about the economy among our target income groups, they are unlikely to button up their pocket books and wallets entirely when it comes to discretionary spending.

Another important development has been the fact that the dollar has declined further against the euro amid concerns that the European Central Bank will raise interest rates while the Fed seems likely to freeze or even lower rates in the US. Meanwhile, sterling has also been stronger after a recent report which showed that the UK economy expanded faster than expected in the final quarter of 2006. The Bank of England is likely to hike its rate another quarter point at its May meeting. The current exchange rates which are hovering around $1.32 to the Euro and $1.95 to the pound have not significantly changed above recent levels to further impact trans-Atlantic travel,

One of the key issues has been the price of oil. Crude oil has again been highly volatile and ended February at a two-month high contributing to the stock market slide. Iran's intransigence in the face of US sanctions over its refusal to curb its nuclear ambitions and the nationalization of foreign company oil assets in Venezuela are major reasons for rising prices together with the belated arrival of very cold weather in the US and diminishing gasoline and home heating oil and gas inventories. As spring approaches, prices will hopefully stabilize again.

Meanwhile, the airlines have been moving to increase fares and sharply reduce the availability of capacity-controlled promotionals to offset their higher fuel bills wherever competitive pressures will permit. We can expect the cost of air transportation to and within the Caribbean region to go up again.

The last point for this months issue is the impact in the change in passport regulations
The jury is still out on this one as early results trickle in just a few weeks since the new regulations took effect. One thing is reasonably certain, though certainly puzzling, that popular winter destinations which are not affected by the passport requirement like Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Southern Florida and the USVI do not appear to be benefiting. The cruise industry which is also unaffected is having a very soft season and is moving inventory elsewhere (see details below.) On the other side of the coin, European business in January was substantially up and tour operators specializing in more exotic itineraries such as Morocco, Turkey and long-haul South America are reporting sold-out departure dates in spring and summer. The largest wholesale/retail company for the Caribbean, Libgo, conducted a survey of all their retail agency locations in February. They found that big-city offices like those in New York and Philadelphia reported no impact at all while small-town office managers said that some clients had to postpone their departures to obtain passports but nearly all rebooked for later dates.

As for the us here on island;
preliminary figures indicate that the North American market has performed well in 2006 and major influence was the additional airlift. For 2007 the market is poised to realize the strongest sustained growth since 1999. Baring any unforeseen events, the US market could achieve a positive year-over-year growth in 2007. Bonaire, as forecasted has not experienced adverse effects of the passport regulation.

As for other markets;
Outlook for 2006 indicate that the European market decreased compared to arrivals in 2005. This fluctuation was caused by a decrease in available seat capacity. Efforts on the area of airlift have alleviated this; compensating loss through connections via Curacao (DAE) and introduction of ArkeFly in November 2006. Despite ending the year with a decrease, baring unforeseen events, the European market should make a come back in 2007.

Preliminary figures indicate an increase in 2006 for the South American compared to 2005. Main contributor was the Brazilian market, where marketing efforts have increased. An increase can also be noted in the Caribbean market.

Bonaire's cruise tourism industry is growing. Projections indicate that Bonaire will receive 91.842 passengers in season 2006/2007. This number will increase to 156.830 passengers in season 2007/2008, according to projections. Many are benefiting from this up and coming tourism sector. Care is being taken in developing this industry while still adhering to the basic philosophy "growth while maintaining nature and culture".

Statistical results per market will be provided in next month's Entre Nous edition. Above contains among other indications of market performance in 2006. Preliminary results of first months of 2007 also look promising.

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