The correct answer is:
D. Many of the new visitors to North Haverbrook will visit at times of year other than the two peak months.
This choice suggests that the increased demand for hotel rooms will be spread out over a longer period, reducing the pressure on hotels during peak months. This would mean that the 3 percent annual increase in hotel capacity would be more likely to meet the demand, as the demand would not be concentrated in just a few months.
The officials' prediction relies on the assumption that the increase in hotel capacity (3 percent per year) will be sufficient to meet the increased demand for hotel rooms (expected to rise by 25 percent over four years, which averages to about 6.25 percent per year). If many of the new visitors will come at times other than the peak months, the demand will be more evenly distributed throughout the year. This distribution will alleviate the pressure on hotel rooms during peak times, making it more manageable for the existing and newly built hotels to accommodate the increased number of visitors.
Let's evaluate the other options for clarity:
A. Visitors to North Haverbrook can easily stay in nearby South Haverbrook, where hotel capacity exceeds demand by 15 percent.
This option suggests an alternative accommodation but does not address the issue of ensuring North Haverbrook's hotels themselves meet the demand.
B. Many of the new visitors to North Haverbrook are campers, and there is ample excess capacity to camp in North Haverbrook's park.
This suggests an alternative form of accommodation but does not directly address the hotel capacity issue.
C. Many of the new visitors are students who intend to save costs by sleeping several people to a room.
While this could reduce the number of rooms needed, it does not provide a consistent solution applicable to all visitors.
E. Visitors to North Haverbrook can reach the city only by cable car up a mountain, and the capacity of the cable car traffic will grow even more slowly than that of the hotel rooms.
This option implies a potential constraint on the number of visitors due to limited transportation capacity but does not support the officials' belief that hotel capacity alone will suffice.
Therefore, D is the strongest answer because it directly addresses how the distribution of visitor arrivals throughout the year can help ensure that the hotel capacity meets the demand, aligning with the officials' prediction. (chat gpt)