The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

THE in-coming president of the Marina Operators of the Bahamas (MOB) is predicting an increase in boating visitors this year, telling Tribune Business the economy was perhaps the biggest challenge for the industry.

Joseph Dargavage, the island general manager for Great Harbour Cay in the Berry Islands, told Tribune Business: "I see an increase in boating this year. Probably our biggest challenge is the economy. When the economy isn't going so good, people don't boat. Boating is a pleasure; people tend to boat a lot more when the economy is doing well. I really see a nice rebound. Volume is up this year; it was up last year."

Mr Dargavage said that fuel sales margins were also a challenge to the industry. We continue to work on that," he said. "The margin varies. I think right now it's about 25 cents per gallon.

"The problem is as gas prices go up the margin gets smaller. No one ever expected the price of gas to go up $5-$6 dollars per gallon. The margins did not reflect that properly. I believe that we are going to see a nice decrease over the next year to year-and-a-half on gas prices that's going to affect every body.

"Gas prices affect us all. Last year, the Finance Department really came and helped us work on the margin; there is still work to be done. We still want to be able to provide our marina operators enough of a margin for it to be profitable for them to even be in the gas and diesel business."

Mr Dargavage said the marina sector provided a great spin-off effect in the tourism industry.

"The main focus of the MOB is to bring together all the marinas throughout the Bahamas, so that we as an industry can really come together to offer better customer service and allow the same standards throughout the islands," he said.

"The marina sector has a huge effect. We employ a lot of people and there is a great spin-off effect. The market as a whole is a very important part of the Bahamian tourism industry and it's a growing market."