The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The FNM’s deputy leader yesterday said Baha Mar’s ongoing ‘opening saga’ was unlikely to have caused “collateral damage” to the wider Bahamas’ tourism brand yet, although such risks increased the longer the delay.

K P Turnquest said the “marketing campaigns and respected brands” of other major Bahamas-based resorts and hotels meant that any fallout for the destination as a whole was likely mitigated to-date.

But he added: “The more this drags on, and the fall-out from the various delays continues, obviously it is going to shine a light on the destination as a whole, and the investment climate as a whole.

“It’s certainly not a good thing, and we’d love to see it come to a conclusion as soon as possible without further reputational damage to Baha Mar itself.

“We need Baha Mar to be successful, and I’m more concerned about its own launch,” Mr Turnquest told Tribune Business. “There’s certainly going to be some possible collateral damage, but that would not be my focus at this point.”

The FNM deputy, though, acknowledged that it was “not on” for foreign visitors to have booked their dream vacation at Baha Mar, only for them to be informed at the last minute that the booking was cancelled because construction work on the $3.5 billion property is not complete.

“You book your vacation based on an opening date, and next thing you know it’s pulled out from under you,” Mr Turnquest told Tribune Business.

“It’s just not on. What’s going on? Let’s hope they can get it done.”

Baha Mar’s website is now showing room availability at its core casino hotel from September 8-10, dates later than the August opening the mega resort is now seemingly hoping for.

Robert Sands, Baha Mar’s senior vice-president for government and external affairs, yesterday told Tribune Business that the resort was “not taking new reservations until August”.

“That doesn’t mean we don’t have current reservations,” he added.

Mr Sands promised to check the website’s September dates for Tribune Business, but did not get back to this newspaper before press time.

In the meantime, he sent a statement saying: “Our commitment is to establish Baha Mar as a best-in-class luxury destination for our guests.

“Therefore, Baha Mar is opening all the resort’s hotels, amenities, restaurants and retail when we’re certain we can ensure the best experience for all guests as we strive for service perfection.”

He added: “We are working very closely with our travel partners, and they can trust that we will take terrific care of the guests that they send to us.

“ We understand that vacation time is treasured, and we apologise to guests who are being inconvenienced by the changes.”

Baha Mar has yet to confirm a new opening date as the row between itself and its main contractor, China State Construction (America), continues over the delayed construction.