By TERENCE MURRELL, Guardian Business

The need to achieve greater economies of scale, in an effort to mitigate against the enormous challenges currently faced by travel agencies across the region, was the main reason regional travel services conglomerate Caribbean World Travel Services decided to purchase local travel agency Destinations Travel.

"Strength comes in numbers, especially when you look at the challenges the travel industry is facing, not only in The Bahamas, but regionally and around the world," noted Alfredo Weatherhead, the company's managing director, during an interview with Guardian Business yesterday. "The Bahamas purchase was about continuing our process of growth and expansion, as a way to offset some of these challenges."

Though excited about the opportunities in The Bahamas market, Weatherhead did, however, express some concern about the impact of falling tourism arrival numbers, not only in The Bahamas, but also regionally.

The latest figures released by the Ministry of Tourism show that total visitor arrivals in May declined by 5.8 percent. In total, 2,038,614 visitors were recorded for the first five months of this year, which represents a decline of 0.9 percent over the same period in 2007. Of concern, however, is the 10.4 percent decline in arrivals to New Providence during that period.

In addition, a recent Bahamas Hotel Association survey noted that the state of the United States economy, and higher travel costs related to increasing fuel costs, is negatively impacting hotels in The Bahamas. According to that survey, 71 percent of hoteliers said they did not expect to make a net profit in 2008.

"The airlines are cutting back, their rates are affecting the travel agents, there has definitely been a slowdown in the region, so we have to put in place a growth strategy," Weatherhead stressed. Other benefits of the purchase, according to him, are the ability of the Barbados-based conglomerate to leverage its greater buying power, and the benefits to customers of having access to a seamless, regional systems network which includes The Bahamas.

"What we have also been doing is seeking to develop a regional travel brand, in which travelers will have access to our many offices across the region, and can be assured of the same high-quality level of service throughout."

Weatherhead said there will be few changes to the local Destinations operation, and no changes to its staff complement, though in the future a name change, to 'Going Places Travel', may be considered.

"There was a time when our travel services subsidiaries operated with ten different names, this was before 2001, and it created confusion for our customers." he said.

He continued, "Our goal is first and foremost, to be in every English-speaking country in the region, and then look at expansion into the non-English speaking jurisdictions. At the moment, however, we are in process of trying to understanding Destinations from an operations point-of-view, and seeing how it will fit into the group," he added.