Hotels locally are having a surprisingly good summer season even though the "summer sale" on air fares by the major carrier serving the territory has excluded the Virgin Islands.
However, an industry leader says the strong occupancy stems largely from discounted room rates that are only a holding pattern for the properties.
Across the mainland, American Airlines is advertising a summer sale on fares from there to the Caribbean and back with savings of up to 40 percent.
Virgin Islanders need not rush to encourage kith and kin to come visit, however – at least not on that basis. St. Thomas and St. Croix are not among the destinations for which the discounts apply.
The special fares – which must be purchased by June 30 with travel by Sept. 30 – are good from any point in the mainland United States to Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands (Beef Island), Dominica, the Dominican Republic (Santo Domingo), Guadeloupe (Pointe-a-Pitre), St. Kitts and St. Maarten.
Sample round-trip rates for Monday through Thursday travel (for weekends, add $20 round trip):
Miami to St. Maarten – $344
New York (JFK) to Dominica – $388
New York (JFK) to Anguilla – $404
Boston to Tortola – $437
Dallas/Fort Worth to Santiago – $453
Chicago to St. Kitts – $540
Los Angeles to St. Kitts – $635
San Francisco to Tortola – $623
Richard Doumeng, president of the St. Thomas-St. John Hotel and Tourism Association, speculated that the airline's discount "really just means that their load factors are probably lower for those destinations than they are here."
Minette Velez, in the American Airlines corporate communications office in San Juan, offered this explanation: "Basically the reason is competition. There are other airlines that have established special fares to these destinations that you see there."
And that, she added, is not the case in the Virgin Islands.
But she confirmed Doumeng's view as well: "Right now the U.S. Virgin Islands is doing very good in terms of passenger movement." She noted that American did include the territory in a fare sale last February "and had excluded other destinations, as well."
For U.S. mainland travelers, Velez added, "This is the high season," and the New York, Boston, Chicago and San Juan markets are strong.
More important to the potential traveler, however, "There are very good fares right now" to the Virgin Islands, if one knows where to look, she said. A good place to start is connecting through San Juan.
American has a rock-bottom fare of $250 from New York to San Juan and back "available right now," she said, and the round-trip American Eagle connection to St. Thomas or St. Croix can be as low as $99. In fact, not only American but also Trans World Airways and United Airlines have the New York-San Juan $250 fare. It requires a three-day advance purchase, a minimum three-night stay and first-leg travel by Sept. 4.
Doumeng confirmed that tourist traffic coming into the territory is strong this summer. His Bolongo Bay Beach Club is having the best occupancy rate for the month of June since before Hurricane Hugo, he said.
At the monthly meeting Wednesday night of the St. Thomas-St. John Hotel and Tourism Association, executives of many other local hotels also spoke of very good June/July occupancies.
However, Doumeng said, this is not so much because of affordable air fares as because the hotels offer deeply discounted rates in the summer and early fall. Most hotel guests come on air-land packages, he said, and "what makes the package appealing is how low we have come in our price – we are bearing the brunt of the perceived value."
He added of the hotel industry locally, "No one can live on the rates that we are getting this summer. All we are trying to do is cover our payroll, create cash flow and pay the WAPA bill."
A lot of airline prices in effect now are higher than they have ever been, with recent increases pegged to rising fuel costs. Doumeng is traveling to Cancun, Mexico, this weekend for the annual Caribbean Hotel Industry Conference (CHIC). He said the best fare he found with American was around $1,600 – but an Internet search eventually led to a $469 ticket from Panama-based Copa Airlines, which has service between San Juan and Cancun.
Doumeng said he tries to keep a positive attitude. "I've gone from being a guy who wonders how come things are so bad," he said, to one who wonders "how come they aren't worse."

Dear Source:
Thank you for your articles on the lack of mainland knowledge of St. Croix. If it had not been for a private dive travel agent that I have used for many years and her recommendation to go to St. Croix I wouldn't have known about or experienced what a great island you have.
My family and I have traveled many islands and we enjoyed yours the most! Please get the word out, but be careful to do it the right way so St. Croix is not ruined. I recommend you fix the sewage problem first. That's not something that tourists want to see or hear about on vacation.
Thank You,
Jim Burkart
Marengo, Il.

Seventies icon, "Shaft," along with Isaac Hayes' super cool music is back again, but this is the nineties. This Shaft (Samuel L. Jackson) is the nephew of the old private dick in a black leather jacket Shaft, Richard Roundtree, a "badass superhero."
This Shaft is a NYPD detective, but with the same charisma as his uncle, and the same determination, as he faces down fellow cops, criminals who really don't like him, and all manner of bad things trying to bag his man.
His man is spoiled white college kid Walter Wade (Christian Bale) who kills a young black student in a bar one night. Shaft makes the arrest and puts Wade behind bars, but Wade skips bale and flees the country.
Shaft waits. He waits two years and arrests Wade as he returns to New York and puts him in the pokey once again. But Wade's rich daddy bails him out. While spending one night in jail, Wade meets up with a Dominican drug dealer, Peoples Hernandez — great name for a shortstop – (Jeffrey Wright), who also has it in for Shaft, and watch out Shaft!
Peoples and Wade plot to finish off their nemesis, and Shaft finds his only backup is cop colleague Carmen (Vanessa Williams) and a streetwise confidant Rasaan (Busta Rhymes). His fellow men in blue turn on him, and, finally, he turns in his badge, becoming a private dick like uncle Shaft.
Director John Singleton (Boyz in the Hood) get high praise from many critics for his portrayal of crooked cops, sleazy informers, and a generally gloomy look at the NYPD. In fact, one reviewer made the sage observation that "Singleton won't be getting any free tickets to the Policeman's Ball."
It is rated R for strong violence and language.
It starts Thursday at Cinema One.

Seventies icon, "Shaft," along with Isaac Hayes' super cool music is back again, but this is the nineties. This Shaft (Samuel L. Jackson) is the nephew of the old private dick in a black leather jacket Shaft, Richard Roundtree, a "badass superhero."
This Shaft is a NYPD detective, but with the same charisma as his uncle, and the same determination, as he faces down fellow cops, criminals who really don't like him, and all manner of bad things trying to bag his man.
His man is spoiled white college kid Walter Wade (Christian Bale) who kills a young black student in a bar one night. Shaft makes the arrest and puts Wade behind bars, but Wade skips bale and flees the country.
Shaft waits. He waits two years and arrests Wade as he returns to New York and puts him in the pokey once again. But Wade's rich daddy bails him out. While spending one night in jail, Wade meets up with a Dominican drug dealer, Peoples Hernandez — great name for a shortstop – (Jeffrey Wright), who also has it in for Shaft, and watch out Shaft!
Peoples and Wade plot to finish off their nemesis, and Shaft finds his only backup is cop colleague Carmen (Vanessa Williams) and a streetwise confidant Rasaan (Busta Rhymes). His fellow men in blue turn on him, and, finally, he turns in his badge, becoming a private dick like uncle Shaft.
Director John Singleton (Boyz in the Hood) get high praise from many critics for his portrayal of crooked cops, sleazy informers, and a generally gloomy look at the NYPD. In fact, one reviewer made the sage observation that "Singleton won't be getting any free tickets to the Policeman's Ball."
It is rated R for strong violence and language.
It starts Thursday at Sunny Isle.

Police Commissioner Franz Christian was armed with statistics Wednesday night to back up his claim that the territory is a safe tourist destination and his department is working to make it even safer.
Christian, speaking at the monthly meeting of the St. Thomas-St. John Hotel and Tourism Association, said that only 319 tourists were victimS of crime last year, a 12-month period that saw more than 6,400 felony cases recorded by police.
In the first four months of this year, he said, 136 tourists fell victim to felony crime, a number that represents about "1 percent of 1 percent of the million tourists who visit or overnight in the Virgin Islands."
Christian spent considerable time discounting a recent article by a Fox News Channel on-line columnist who suggested that crime in the V.I. is out of control and the police have done little to rectify the lawlessness.
He assured hoteliers that several initiatives are under way to make the islands safer for residents and visitors.
"We have reactivated the Tourist Oriented Policing Program, a program which provides sensitivity training to police who deal directly with visitors," he said.
The program will take on new responsibilities, he assured the hotel industry officials. "We will use the TOP program to carry out missions that include removing abandoned vehicles and improving both sidewalks and unsafe roadways."
In other action, Hotel and Tourism Association president Richard Doumeng announced the organization's support for pending legislation that would impose an occupancy tax on persons occupying time-share units at hotel properties across the islands.
The use of time-share units is on the increase and the law that applies the hotel occupancy tax of 8 percent does not mention the time-share properties.
"It's only fair, since they benefit from tourism advertising, that they be taxed as well," Doumeng said.
The hotel occupancy tax is deposited directly into the Tourism Advertising Fund and by law is to be used only for advertising the destination.
The proposal calls for a $5-per-day fee on time-share units with the rate doubling to $10 a day on Oct. 1, 2001. Based on the number of time-share units in the territory, it is estimated that the tax could generate an additional $500,000 a year into the Tourism Revolving Fund.

Even before the Department of Public Works bids good riddance to its archaic landfills in favor of a modern waste-handling facility, it will discard most of the unsightly garbage bins now used throughout the territory to collect residents’ trash.
But as the government waves goodbye with one hand it will have the other out collecting something other than trash — cash. As Public Works eliminates the use of roll-on-roll-off bins at set collection points as its main way of picking up garbage, it — or a contractor — will begin a house-to-house program that residents will have to pay for.
"It’s the 21st century and garbage isn’t free anymore," said Sonya Nelthropp, technical assistant to the commissioner of Public Works on waste management.
In its efforts to solve the territory’s trash problems, Public Works has circulated a request for proposals on a state-of-the-art solid-waste management facility. Nelthropp said the department has received nine proposals and after forming a bid committee will begin the evaluation process in August.
The proposals cover everything from garbage pickup to final processing. But paying for a system that could cost somewhere between $70 million and $100 million means the territory will have to start doing what every other jurisdiction in the United States does: charge tipping fees for garbage disposal.
Various government studies have placed a tipping fee at $40 to $50 a ton. How that translates for individual residents remains to be worked out. But one thing is sure, there will no longer be free rides to the dump.
Hand in hand with a new solid-waste management facility is a proposed Waste Management Authority. Its aim will be to better manage sewage and solid waste, primarily by collecting fees to run those problem-plagued systems.
Public Works has submitted draft legislation to creating the authority to Government House, which is expected to send the proposal to the Legislature for approval by the end of summer.
At that point, either Public Works or a waste authority will be in charge of, among other things, collecting fees for house-to-house trash removal. "Public Works or the authority will be responsible for that function whether they do it themselves or hire a private hauler," Nelthropp said. "Customers will pay whether it’s a residential fee or paying the contractor."
Roan Creque, director of operations at Public Works, said a test program for house-to-house collection has been under way for some time on St. Croix, culminating recently in the distribution of 64-gallon garbage cans to residents of Mon Bijou.
Under the new system, as many of the roll-on-roll-off bins as possible will be eliminated. Those areas that cannot be served by house-to-house pickup will still use bins, which, however, will be placed in areas that are fenced, staffed and, above all, not free.
Creque said he hopes to see the program in full operation by Oct. 1. "Once the authority is in place it will happen immediately," he said. "St. Croix is ideal for house-to-house. On St. Thomas, there are some areas where it’s not going to work. We’ll do facilities near those areas so people can dispose of their trash. But stuff won’t be there for days on end."
Nelthropp, meanwhile, noted that house-to-house collection will allow for better management of waste by separating residential and commercial customers. It will also make people more aware of how much trash they are producing, she said, especially if garbage is picked up just once a week.
And that, the government hopes, will reduce the amount of garbage going into a new solid-waste facility.
"Volume," said Nelthropp, "is the real critical issue."

Even before the Department of Public Works bids good riddance to its archaic landfills in favor of a modern waste-handling facility, it will discard most of the unsightly garbage bins now used throughout the territory to collect residents’ trash.
But as the government waves goodbye with one hand, it will have the other out collecting something other than trash — cash. As Public Works eliminates the use of roll-on-roll-off bins at set collection points as its main way of picking up garbage, it — or a contractor — will begin a house-to-house program that residents will have to pay for.
"It’s the 21st century and garbage isn’t free anymore," said Sonya Nelthropp, technical assistant to the commissioner of Public Works on waste management.
In its efforts to solve the territory’s trash problems, Public Works has circulated a request for proposals on a state-of-the-art solid-waste management facility. Nelthropp said the department has received nine proposals and after forming a bid committee will begin the evaluation process in August.
The proposals cover everything from garbage pickup to final processing. But paying for a system that could cost somewhere between $70 million and $100 million means the territory will have to start doing what every other jurisdiction in the United States does: charge tipping fees for garbage disposal.
Various government studies have placed a tipping fee at $40 to $50 a ton. How that translates for individual residents remains to be worked out. But one thing is sure, there will no longer be free rides to the dump.
Hand in hand with a new solid-waste management facility is a proposed Waste Management Authority. Its aim will be to better manage sewage and solid waste, primarily by collecting fees to run those problem-plagued systems.
Public Works has submitted draft legislation to create the authority to Government House, which is expected to send the proposal to the Legislature for approval by the end of summer.
At that point, either Public Works or a waste authority will be in charge of, among other things, collecting fees for house-to-house trash removal. "Public Works or the authority will be responsible for that function whether they do it themselves or hire a private hauler," Nelthropp said. "Customers will pay whether it’s a residential fee or paying the contractor."
Roan Creque, director of operations at Public Works, said a test program for house-to-house collection has been under way for some time on St. Croix, culminating recently in the distribution of 64-gallon garbage cans to residents of Mon Bijou.
Under the new system, as many of the roll-on-roll-off bins as possible will be eliminated. Those areas that cannot be served by house-to-house pickup will still use bins, which, however, will be placed in areas that are fenced, staffed and, above all, not free.
Creque said he hopes to see the program in full operation by Oct. 1.
"Once the authority is in place it will happen immediately," he said. "St. Croix is ideal for house-to-house. On St. Thomas, there are some areas where it’s not going to work. We’ll do facilities near those areas so people can dispose of their trash. But stuff won’t be there for days on end."
Nelthropp, meanwhile, noted that house-to-house collection will allow for better management of waste by separating residential and commercial customers. It will also make people more aware of how much trash they are producing, she said, especially if garbage is picked up just once a week.
And that, the government hopes, will reduce the amount of garbage going into a new solid-waste facility.
"Volume," said Nelthropp, "is the real critical issue."

The Police Athletic League's summer camp will open Monday at 8 a.m. at Michael J. Kirwan Terrace Elementary School in Lindberg Bay.
Camp hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and is open to children aged 9 to 15.
For more information or to register call Sgt. Thomas Olive at 776-1525 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Two games were played Tuesday in the Government and Industrial Coed Slowpitch Softball League at Emile Griffith Park.
Several teams battled for their playoff lives as their opponents attempted to move on. Airport blurred WAPA’s view 13-6 to prevent them from advancing to the second round. Meanwhile, Health eliminated Justice/Territorial Court 11-4 in the nightcap.
Airport pitcher Dale Rhymer allowed six runs in the first three innings. Airport was down by two but held WAPA scoreless for the rest of the game. Rhymer’s team answered with one run in the fourth and two in the fifth to take a 7-6 lead.
Airport rallied for six runs in the in the top of the seventh inning to take a seven run lead, which put the game out of reach.
Due to illness, WAPA changed its defense. However, Airport, the 1999 defending champs, capitalized on nine WAPA errors. WAPA manager Allen Brown was forced to move around his defense because his regular shortstop Leon "Bookem" Martin was sick with the flu. This put some players out of their normal fielding positions. However, Brown noted that his team had "no excuses, they played better than us tonight."
With the series now tied at one, the rubber game will be played on Friday at 8:30 p.m. Brown said "we’ll be back and ready."
In the final game, Justice/Territorial Court could not hold off Cyril "Zamba" Andrews or his team, Health. Andrews used a three phase attack in leading his team to victory. Andrews, Health's vocal leader, was perfect at the plate in three appearances and held Justice/Territorial Court to nine hits and four runs from the mound.
Health swept Justice/Territorial Court, 2-0. Health will face National Guard Friday at 7 p.m. in second round action.

The Maulers defeated the Cobras 23-5 in St. Thomas Pee Wee League baseball action Tuesday afternoon at the Emile Griffith Ballpark.
The Maulers exploded with 20 hits. They were lead by Neville Patrick, Deron Hanley and Shirlyn Brown, who all went 3 for 3. Hanley hit two home runs. Darnell Little also had three hits but in four plate appearances. Alvin Davis was 2 for 2 and Javed Benjamin, Reginald Knight and Malcolm Thompson Jr. each went 2 for 3 for the Maulers.
The Cobras did manage five hits. They spread the wealth evenly as Troy Richards, Gary George, Andres Nunez, Tevon Richards and Deshawn Hewitt each had a hit.
The St. Thomas Pee Wee League is made up of children 6 to 8 years old.