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TUESDAY, JULY 4, 2023
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Gas retailers ‘not gone to sleep’ on margin rise • Willing to accept ‘sensible’ phased-in increase • Recent oil pice fall can be ‘winwin’ for solution • Despite Russia/Saudi cut; gave PM Budget room
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net BAHAMIAN petroleum retailers yesterday said they “haven’t gone to sleep” over their push for a margin increase but are willing to take a “sensible” phased-in approach that will not overly burden motorists and the wider economy. Vasco Bastian, the Bahamas Petroleum Retailers Association’s (BPRA) vice-president, told Tribune Business the sector and its
issues “haven’t gone away” amid hopes the recent decline in global oil and fuel prices could prove a “win-win” for all parties by providing the necessary headroom for a resolution if the trend continues. While Saudi Arabia and Russia did their best to reverse this by announcing new and extended production cuts, in a bid to halt the slide and drive global oil prices higher once again, he reiterated that the Association and its members would accept the 30 cent per gallon increase they are seeking being phased-in via a series of
Briland hotelier’s ‘night and day’ $100k revenue jump By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A HARBOUR Island hotelier yesterday revealed a “night and day” comparison to pre-COVID performance as revenues for May 2023 were some $100,000 up on the same month in 2019. Benjamin Simmons, proprietor of The Other Side and Ocean View properties on Harbour Island and Eleuthera, told Tribune Business this was “a big difference” for small, boutique properties such as his with tourism maintaining its post-pandemic rebound into the summer months
for the popular visitor destination. “It seems like in 2019 that we didn’t know what business was,” he said. “It’s night and day. It’s a bit different because we’ve added rooms to the property and on the pricing, but it’s basically a $100,000 difference in revenue for that one month - May 2023 versus May 2019. Occupancy was basically the same, but that’s a huge difference on the actual revenue. That’s a big difference.” Mr Simmons told this newspaper that revenues for his two properties were ahead of last year’s June performance, while occupancy was “comparable”.
He added: “Between the two properties it was 61 percent versus 58 percent last year, so it was pretty much the same story, “May was similar. It was slightly down at 67 percent occupancy versus 75 percent last year, but revenue was about $4,000 higher. Revenue increased but there was a slight dip in occupancy. It seems like we’re holding steady, all things considered. Christmas and December, those periods we start selling in June, and we’re already sold out. Fingers crossed, it’s business as usual and we’re holding steady. “I think we’ve had a bit of a turn down in the wedding story. That
staggered increases to mitigate the impact. Mr Bastian told this newspaper that gas station operators had allowed the Government to deal with the 2023-2024 Budget before seeking to revive negotiations between the two sides and, now that process has been completed, will seek to once again meet with Prime Minister Philip Davis KC and the Ministry of Finance’s technical advisers in a bid to resolve
• Monthly increase ‘a big difference’ • Post-COVID weddings see tail-off • Marina off 10% but up versus 2019 post-COVID inflated demand has trailed off a bit, but we’ve had back to back great tears since 2021. The only thing we saw a drop in volume for was wedding bookings going into next year, and we expected that to a certain degree,” Mr Simmons continued.
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Spending watchdog to probe transport issues By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE OPPOSITION’S leader says the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) plans to start investigating before month’s end several matters “of great concern” involving the Ministry of Transport and Housing. Michael Pintard, who chairs parliament’s spending watchdog, told Tribune Business that the controversial contracts awarded for the online boating/
MICHAEL PINTARD yachting fees portal and harbour navigation aids will be just two of the issues that the committee intends to probe. Voicing hope that the Government will not seek to block attendance by
permanent secretaries, senior civil servants and other key officials, as it has before, the Opposition leader said: “We do intend to look at the Ministry of Transport and Housing through the Public Accounts Committee. There are a number of matters that have caused grave concern. “We have already begun the process. We expect by the end of July we are hopeful of talking to some of the persons associated with the Ministry of Transport and Housing because
they have multiple matters of concern to us.” The Public Accounts Committee is the only House committee that the Opposition controls, and where it has a majority. Mr Pintard listed the issues that he and the Opposition wish to examine as the $20m loan to finance the Renaissance at Carmichael housing development, which came from Jamaican finance house, Proven, and was arranged by Bahamian
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Stopover tourists strike 94% pre-COVID levels By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net TOTAL air arrivals to The Bahamas in May hit 94.2 percent of pre-COVID’s 2019 high, the Central Bank revealed yesterday, with overall visitor numbers for the first five months of 2023 some 68 percent ahead of last year.
The monetary policy regulator, in its monthly report on May’s economic developments, said the tourism-led recovery from the pande mic was maintaining its momentum with air and sea arrivals to New Providence up by 30 percent and 85.2 percent year-over-year, respectively, for the first five months
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PHILIP DAVIS KC
THE CENTRAL BANK OF THE BAHAMAS
talks that began some 15 months ago. “We’re still trying to come to some sort of resolution,” he said. “We haven’t heard anything from the Government for a while, but we felt it best to give them and the Prime Minister time to deal with the Budget, and hopefully we can now go back and speak to him again, speak with the people from
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‘Something’s got to give’ in Govt’s fight with GBPA By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A LONG-STANDING Freeport licensee says “something has got to give” in the struggle between the Government and Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA), and warned: “Change is inevitable.” Stephen Crane, the luxury goods and jewellery retail entrepreneur long associated with Freeport’s Colombian Emeralds operation, told Tribune Business in a recent interview that such change will “happen now or relatively soon” as the present battle over the city’s governance is simply “not sustainable”. Confirming that he wants to “see a new administration” take over Freeport’s management, the 50-year GBPA licensee asserted that “the real springboard for future success” lies in realigning the Hawksbill Creek Agreement such that the ease of doing business in the Port area becomes “much more dynamic” and enables it to attract
those industries at the forefront of the digital-driven economy. Mr Crane told this newspaper that Freeport’s US proximity, Internet connectivity and bandwidth, and ‘free trade zone’ status, made it a natural location for companies and sectors stifled by US immigration stipulations and restrictive regulations. He identified medical research, aeronautics and technology-related industries as being among those that the Port area and Grand Bahama can attract, along with firms that can exploit its potential as a logistics and distribution hub. “Change is inevitable. It’s going to happen now or happen relatively soon,” Mr Crane said of the present stand-off over Freeport’s governance and administration. “The present situation between the Government and the GBPA is not sustainable. One is pulling in one direction and the other is resisting it. Something has got to give.
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