business@tribunemedia.net
FRIDAY, APRIL 11, 2025
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Out Island hotels ‘like the wicket we are on’ via double-digit rises • Airline ticket sales up 13-15% for key islands to August • After room night sales, revenue jump 14% in early ‘25 • Industry ‘just hope it lasts’ amid Trump ‘roller coaster’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net FAMILY Island hotels were yesterday said to “like the wicket we are on” with airline bookings through August up by doubledigit percentages for many destinations despite the Trumpinduced global economic turmoil. KERRY FOUNTAIN Kerry Fountain, the Bahamas Out Island Promotion Board’s executive director, told Tribune Business that both room revenues and room nights sold at member properties were ahead of prior year comparatives for January and February 2025 on a like-for-like basis to make it four consecutive months of improvement since last year’s US presidential election. And, conceding that Family Island resorts “just hope it lasts” given the stock market upheaval, and related inflation and recession fears as a result of the US president’s trade and tariff policies, he disclosed that airline ticket sold for key destinations such as Abaco and North Eleuthera are ahead of 2024 comparisons by 14 percent and 13 percent, respectively, for the period April to August 2025. “It’s been a roller coaster,” Mr Fountain told this newspaper of the fall-out from Mr Trump’s constantly-changing tariff policies, with the US president having been forced by the brutal market reaction that wiped $5
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No change to 7m Nassau cruise visitors amid chaos By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
• Cruise chief says ‘more resilient to tariffs, recession’ NASSAU Cruise Port’s top • But Promotion Board chief executive yesterday said it has voices stopover concerns seen no reason to adjust projections of a near-one million increase in passenger arriv- • Must ‘fix’ Nassau/PI to be als to seven million in 2026 like the ‘Macy’s’ of Bahamas despite the current global economic turmoil. Michael Maura, the Prince George Wharf operator’s chief executive and director, told Tribune Business that the cruise industry is “more resilient to recessions and tariffs” than most other tourism niches because its “value proposition” enables passengers to enjoy multiple destinations at “a fraction of the price” of higher-spending stopover visitors. Speaking as uncertainty over Donald Trump’s stop/ start tariff policy continues to provoke global stock market and economic upheaval, he added that Nassau Cruise
Port’s passenger volumes have suffered no fall-out yet with current predictions that this year’s total 6.1m passengers will grow by 14.8 percent year-over-year to hit the seven million mark in 2026. “Nassau continues to see very strong demand and that is driven by continued strong growth in the industry,” Mr Maura told this newspaper. “Our numbers for 2025 have us at 1,600 calls, and that transitions to approximately 6.1m passengers. “Then, for 2026, we have well over 1,700 calls... actually,
we have well over 1,800 calls and approximately seven million [passengers]. Demand is very, very strong for Nassau.” Asked whether Nassau Cruise Port has sensed or felt any negative impact from the fall-out over Mr Trump’s constantly-changing economic, trade and tariff policies, he replied: “We haven’t seen it yet. “What has continued to support the growth of the cruise industry is the value proposition of cruise. It’s the least expensive way for an individual, for a family, for a
MICHAEL MAURA couple to vacation and visit multiple destinations and, in many cases, eat better than they do at home and at a fraction of the price they would pay for an airline ticket and stay at a hotel. “The space that Nassau Cruise Port operates within is more resilient from a recession and tariff impact perspective. I’m not saying
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Commission releases new ‘unlawful’ scheme warning By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Securities Commission yesterday issued its second warning notice in less than a week over another seemingly “unlawful” investment scheme whose activities appear to be “concentrated” in Freeport. The regulator, just days after issuing a similar alert over Creators Alliance, sounded the alarm over Incomemax - a
scheme being promoted via popular social media channels - that is promising participants they will enjoy returns ten times’ greater than their original $150 investment. It added that it “has the hallmarks of a Ponzi scheme”, which is one of the most common frauds globally, where the first investors are paid returns from new funds injected into the scheme. This cycle is continually repeated, until sums received from new
investors become insufficient to pay the promised returns to older ones, and the scheme ultimately collapses. This usually results in major losses for many participants. Christina Rolle, the Securities Commission’s executive director, speaking after the regulator warned that Incomemax “is an unlawful operation in this jurisdiction”, disclosed that there has been
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CHRISTINA ROLLE
Chamber chief’s fears on Govt’s Mining Bill ‘conflict’ By FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter jsimmons@tribunemedia.net
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THE Andros Chamber of Commerce’s president yesterday voiced concerns over how the new mining law will impact Family Island communities given the seeming conflict of interest on the Government’s part. Darin Bethel told Tribune Business there are questions relating to the strength of oversight as the Government will act as regulator while, at the same time, taking equity ownership interests and receiving profits from the same entities it is supervising. He said this system can present a conflict of
interest, especially on Family Islands. “We have to take into consideration what a project like this would mean and how it would affect our communities, specifically, the business community, and how would they benefit? What is there to assure the business community that there will be proper oversight for the project, considering the Government being a partner, the regulator and the legislator? That brings somewhat of a conflict,” said Mr Bethel. The Mining Bill allows the Government to take a “minimum”10 percent equity ownership interest
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Bahamian exporter’s tariff fears more import-focused
Nobody Does it Better!
BY ANNELIA NIXON Tribune Business Reporter anixon@tribunemedia.net ONE Bahamian exporter yesterday said they are more concerned about the impact Donald Trump’s tariffs will have on the cost of imports to this nation as opposed to the 10 percent levy on their own US exports. Pepin Argamasilla, managing director of John Watling’s Distillery, an exporter to the US, said that in the short-term they have escaped the worst impact from the US president’s trade policies but are more concerned how
these will impact the cost of imports to The Bahamas. “Luckily we had a big order that went a month ago, so we kind of skirted the tariffs for the time being,” Mr Argamasilla said. “It’s concerning, but more so than the export concerns, on items coming into The Bahamas, how they will potentially increase costs. We import bottles, labels and all that fun stuff. The concern is probably more on what lands in The Bahamas as opposed to what is actually exported. “You keep on exporting and, at the end of the day, if there needs to be a price adjustment, there needs
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