business@tribunemedia.net
THURSDAY, JANUARY 5, 2023
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‘$400m opportunity’ to double cruise spend By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net NASSAU has a “$400m opportunity” to double gross cruise passenger spending if it can fully capitalise on the “springboard” provided by the 900,000 visitor increase forecast for 2023, its port chief argued yesterday. Michael Maura, Nassau Cruise Port’s chief executive, told Tribune Business the Bahamian capital can increase the arrivals impact from preCOVID’s $380m high to
• Port chief: Nassau can drive visitor impact to $800m • 2022 fourth quarter arrivals beat pre-COVID by 13k • And 900k rise for 2023 to give yields ‘springboard’ close to $800m per annum if cruise passenger spending expands by $100 per person to fall into line with the Caribbean’s top performers. Conceding that “getting those people off the ship and giving them more
things to do” will be critical to achieving this ambition, he disclosed that Nassau’s cruise passenger arrivals for the 2022 fourth quarter had beaten 2019’s pre-pandemic performance - and in what was a record
FORWARD bookings for The Bahamas’ peak winter tourism season are 10-15 percent ahead of 2022 numbers, a leading hotelier disclosed yesterday, with the industry “satisfied” there will be no return to past COVID restrictions. Robert Sands, the Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association’s (BHTA) president, told Tribune Business that “all the indicators for 2023” point to
ROBERT SANDS the industry surpassing its pre-COVID record year of 2019 as it continues to monitor the surge in COVID cases in China.
Pointing out that there are multiple “buffers” protecting The Bahamas against Chinese COVID cases, he revealed that average daily room rates (ADR), average per capita tourism spend and length of visitor stay were all “beginning to get to double digit increases” in percentage terms compared to prior year benchmarks. Mr Sands also told this newspaper that post-pandemic pent-up tourism demand remains higher than many in The Bahamas anticipated, with January - typically a month
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‘Settle down’ before tax crackdown tie-in By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
MICHAEL MAURA tourism year for The Bahamas - by almost 13,000. Suggesting that this signals the cruise industry’s post-COVID recovery is complete, Mr Maura explained that his “$400m opportunity” estimate was derived from the 4.1m passengers forecast to arrive at Nassau Cruise Port in 2023 spending that extra $100 each. He added that 2022’s fourth quarter performance had surpassed pre-pandemic
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COVID non-factor: Winter tourism season up 10-15% By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
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when business tapers off slightly from the Christmas/New Year highs - also proving “stronger than normal”. And, despite China’s COVID outbreak in China reviving memories of what happened in 2020 and 2021 for some, the BHTA chief voiced optimism that there will be no global case explosion that resulted in the lockdowns, border closures and travel restrictions that marred those two years. He added that the “paramount
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THE Government should allow the corporate real estate market to “settle down” before seeking to tie Business Licence renewals to property tax compliance by commercial landlords, a prominent realtor argued yesterday. Donald Martinborough, Bahamas Realty’s chief executive, told Tribune Business the latest tax enforcement crackdown
was “a bit aggressive” given that many building owners were still getting over 2022’s skyrocketing real property tax bills that increased by up to 400-500 percent in some cases. While applauding the Davis administration’s intent to ensure all taxpayers pay their fair share, he explained his main concern was the “timing” of such a move and said he would have preferred that the market be allowed to
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Gov’t defends $233m borrowing against ‘pure arrogance’ charge By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Government yesterday defended itself from Opposition accusations of “pure arrogance” after it confirmed the law will be changed retroactively to facilitate its borrowing of $233m in IMF special drawing rights (SDRs). The Ministry of Finance, in a statement, pledged that the necessary reforms to the Central Bank Act will be brought before Parliament for its approval “shortly” as Free National Movement (FNM) leaders demanded that someone be held responsible and
punished for a transaction they asserted has no lawful basis at present. The ministry, effectively confirming the allegations, said: “While the use of the SDRs creates a liability to the Central Bank, it is only because the Central Bank Act in its current form does not accommodate the use of the SDRs in the manner prescribed by the IMF (International Monetary Fund)..... “The prospective amendments to the Central Bank Act, which will be brought to Parliament shortly, will codify the terms established in the governing
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