The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

The recent pronouncements by Minister Darville about improved tourism on Grand Bahama for 2016 are indeed encouraging.

However, it was mentioned that there is also scepticism among those in tourist related businesses that the economic benefits may not trickle down to the wider benefit of the community. Although cruise ship arrivals have increased in passenger numbers, the spending per capita has decreased as Grand Bahama continues to attract only the lower echelon of the tourist spectrum. Cruises are heavily discounted just to get bodies on the ships to enhance onboard revenues.

With Freeport being the destination for mostly three and four day cruises, these demographics do not translate to consumers spending generous amount of money ashore. Celebration Cruises from, Palm Beach have teamed up with the discount operator “Groupon” so you can buy a cruise (round trip, food and accommodation) for $11.50 and with taxes and Port charges it adds up to just short of $100.00.

In real terms, we cannot not expect any significant growth in revenues from the cruise market for 2016.

A more obvious opportunity for growth would be the rebranding of the sad and neglected Treasure Bay Casino. It has been over two years since the Biloxi, Mississippi based casino operator removed itself from the daily operation of the property. Keeping the name costs the Government over $100,000 per year for the privilege, while the Bahamian taxpayer subsidises its operation. It is hard to imagine that it is profitable.

The interior looks like a casino in the 1960s with outdated slot machines and equally sad looking gaming tables. Needles to say this does little to attract customers and the majority of the time the place is virtually empty. Unhappy looking staff stand around and recently complaints of working conditions due to unhealthy air systems add to the misery.

The Third World look is made complete with the presence of massive air-conditioning units on the ground outside the building, to which are attached large ducts like the tentacles of an octopus which supply some sort of air to those unfortunate enough to be inside. Compare this to Atlantis or even the bustling Casino on Bimini – an island one hundred times smaller than Grand Bahama, and you have an embarrassing “tourist attraction”.

The Minister of Tourism, Obie Wilchcombe stated at the end on 2014 and again in February and April of 2015 that a new operator would be announced “within a week.” Since then, the silence has been deafening.

There was considerable publicity about a Bahamian group making an application to Government. They claimed they had the funding, expertise and contacts in the gambling world that would bring “jumbo jets of gamblers to Grand Bahama”.

Bring it on I say. Anything would be better than watching the mould grow on what was once a thriving part of Grand Bahama’s tourist economy. The lights are still very dim in the “Magic City” and it will take much more than ineffective politicians to turn it around.

CHRIS PAINE

Nassau,

December 18, 2015.