business@tribunemedia.net
Tuesday, March 24, 2026
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‘Come into 21st century’ for 40% Out Isl. occupancy boost AVERAGE annual occupancies give Family Island resorts “tremendous room for growth”, a senior tourism executive is asserting, but smaller properties must “come into the 21st century” on using online sales and distribution channels to better expose their offerings. Kerry Fountain, the Bahama Out Island Promotion Board’s executive director, told Tribune Business in a recent interview that “Mom and Pop” hotels need to learn from “best practices” and those resorts that are successfully generating higher occupancies from online and social media booking and marketing platforms if Family Island tourism is to achieve its full potential. Acknowledging that Silver Airways’ early June 2025 collapse, and the loss of around 125,000-135,000 annual airline seats, is not the only challenge facing the Family Islands, he said: “I still think our hotels, and especially the ‘Mom and Pop’ hotels, they really need to - and trust me, we are trying - they really need to grasp the 21st century hotel distribution operations. “If you look at what is going on with hotel occupancies for the Family Islands in general, not just my [Promotion Board] members, the average
Union chief: Staff had to halt work to ‘get heads together’ Says many members not interested in working for Gov’t Gov’t seeks Parliament’s nod for $280m deal guarantees
Tourism chief: Caribbean up but Bahamas ‘flat to slightly down’
BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
Calls for better runway lighting to facilitate same-day connection annual occupancy is 40-41 percent. There is definitely room for growth, but we have to embrace how hotels… look at success stories, look at best practices of how they are achieving higher occupancies. “That is how our small hotels in particular, which are most of the hotels in the Family Islands, we have to not just read about it but put these solutions into action,” Mr Fountain added. “We can talk about it, but when we talk about Family Island hotels we are only at 40-41 percent occupancy. There’s tremendous room for growth but we have to come into the 21st century.” Besides better use of digital sales, booking and marketing means, the
THE uncertainties created by the Government’s proposed acquisition of Grand Bahama Power Company are ”playing with everyone’s head”, a union leader warned yesterday, as the Davis administration tabled two parliamentary resolutions to guarantee $280m worth of borrowings to finance the deal. Kendall Culmer, president of the Bahamas Industrial Engineers, Managers and Supervisory Union (BIEMSU), which represents the utility’s middle managers, told Tribune Business that the union has alerted GB Power executives to the fact multiple unanswered questions surrounding the deal - especially whether staff will
KERRY FOUNTAIN Out Island Promotion Board chief said another boost for tourism albeit a more “intermediate” term goal - is to ensure the Family Island airport upgrade, or ‘renaissance’, initiative includes outfitting all destinations with the runway lighting necessary to meet global aviation industry standards to allow safe late afternoon and early evening flights. Mr Fountain said this is key to enabling “same day connectivity” for persons both heading to, and
EXPAND - See Page B5
Consumer watchdog warns fast food chains on ‘unfair practices’
Chamber chief: ‘I don’t see how GB Power deal works out better’
BY ANNELIA NIXON Tribune Business Reporter anixon@tribunemedia.net
BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
THE Government’s consumer watchdog yesterday warned fast food restaurants about unfair trade practices and false advertising after receiving multiple complaints that chains are upgrading meal sizes and charging customers extra without consent. The Consumer Protection Commission, in a statement, said it has received concens that fast food restaurants are neglecting to list small-sized meals as an option for customers on their drive through lines, verbally offering medium or large sizes only. Tynnicia Davis, the Commission’s operations manager, said this is viewed as false advertising. She added that the practice of upgrading meal sizes without consent when a customer orders ‘small’ falls under section 42 of the Consumer Protection Act, which deals with unfair trade practices. Ms Davis said the consequences can range between a $2,000 and $5,000 fine. “They are upsizing without the customer's knowledge, especially if the customer goes in and orders a small,” she said. “I think that's how it works. Small, they upgrade to the medium, and the customer has to pay for that. It falls under section 42 of our Act called unfair trade practices. “There's a consequence. Further to that, we have to wait for them to respond and get their side of the story, so we can come to some conclusion. But the consequences with us could start from a $2,000 fine to a $5,000 fine.” A social media user who goes by the name Ampii W V Richards, in a recent public post tagged the Commission, as she blasted a fast food chain for “telling staff to automatically upgrade” meals to a medium-size rather than allow the customer to request a smaller size meal. “What happened to when one could ask for biggie size or upsize and pay for it, because they need it, than for you guys to
GRAND Bahama’s Chamber of Commerce president yesterday questioned the economic rationale for the Government’s bid to purchase the island’s energy provider, and added: “I don’t see how the full package works out better.”
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Ralph Hepburn told Tribune Business that, without the Davis administration providing more specifics to justify the financial and commercial case for acquiring Grand Bahama Power Company, there were concerns that lowering the island’s electricity rates will merely have to be paid for “on the back end” by the Bahamian taxpayer providing increased subsidies.
Speaking as the Government unveiled plans to tomorrow debate two resolutions seeking parliamentary approval for it to guarantee $280m in borrowings to finance its GB Power purchase ambitions, he added that too many persons “just like to see what’s in front of our face”, meaning the reduced electricity costs and rates being dangled by the Davis administration, as opposed to considering what the wide consequences may mean. Pointing to the Government’s “track record” of not running any state-owned enterprise (SOE) “for profit or break even”, apart from perhaps the Bahamas
FNM hopeful pledges to revive ‘provisional’ Business Licence BY ANNELIA NIXON Tribune Business Reporter anixon@tribunemedia.net THE Free National Movement’s (FNM) Freetown candidate is pledging that the party will revive the Provisional Business Licence initiative in a bid to cut ‘red tape’ associated with starting a firm it it wins the upcoming general election. Lincoln Deal said the goal is to allow entrepreneurs to start operations and hirings immediately for those in no and low-risk small businesses. He said many Freetown constituents, who are also business owners, have encountered difficulties in navigating the Business Licence process. “We will revive the provisional licence programme and promote
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Gov’ts GB Power deal uncertainties ‘playing with everyone’s head’
‘Mom and Pop’ hotels must exploit digital to fill ‘room for growth’
BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
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LINCOLN DEAL it widely,” Mr Deal said. “This will allow entrepreneurs in no and low-risk small businesses to immediately begin operations upon registration even as their full licences are being considered. We are about helping entrepreneurs, not hindering them. “A recurring issue that has come up from numerous Freetown constituents as I have been canvassing in the constituency for the last few months is the difficulty in doing business. From small to medium to large business owners, everyone says it is too difficult to do business and specifically dealing with Business Licence applications and approvals.
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retain their existing jobs, plus salaries and financial benefits - are “playing with a lot of persons mentally”. He disclosed that, when Prime Minster Philip Davis KC was expected to speak on the transaction several weeks ago, some GB Power employees “stopped work that day to get their heads together” with the utility’s linesmen told not to perform any “hot line” work for their own safety and only provide emergency services. Mr Culmer, who told this newspaper that the sudden way in which the Prime Minister unveiled the potential GB Power deal at end-January 2026 put “everybody on edge here”, added that both the union and the utility’s total 210-strong workforce are
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Telecommunications Company (BTC), Mr Hepburn also challenged the decision to take on extra debt for this venture at a time when the state-owned Bahamas Power & Light (BPL) is still burdened by $500m of such liabilities. And he also suggested comparisons between BPL and GB Power, and the respective base tariffs they charge household and business consumers, are misplaced. The latter, as a privately-owned entity, has to ensure it generates sufficient revenues to cover overhead costs, reinvest in infrastructure and generate a profit, whereas
ENERGY - See Page B4