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THURSDAY, JULY 6, 2023
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‘distress’ Atlantis: 30% spend, rate Fishing over boat jumps ‘as good as it gets’ registration hike By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
ATLANTIS yesterday said its year-to-date performance is “as good as you can get” with rates and visitor spending per occupied room both exceeding pre-COVID levels by up to 30 percent. Vaughn Roberts, the Paradise Island resort’s senior vice-president of government affairs and special projects, told Tribune Business it remains “very bullish” on its full-year outlook and is confident that it will be able to preserve firsthalf profit and revenue gains that “might be 20 percent above” internal projections. Disclosing that occupancies for the just-completed US July 4 holiday weekend were around 93-94 percent, he added that
• Mega resort ‘very bullish’ on 2023 outlook • First-half ‘might be 20% up’ on projections • July 4 weekend occupancies strike 93-94%
VAUGHN ROBERTS
this momentum is carrying over into the upcoming Bahamian Independence holiday weekend with forecasts placing occupancy in the high 80 percent range, Mr Roberts told this newspaper that the fact Atlantis’ marine attractions, Dolphin Cay and Aquaventure, are “fully booked” signals that tourist demand for the Paradise Island mega resort and wider Bahamas remains strong. And,
while group business is still “down significantly from where we budgeted” for 2023, he added that there were signs of an emerging recovery given that bookings are still coming in for this year as opposed to dates typically 18-24 months out. Revealing that the resort “wishes we had another 500 rooms” to better accommodate the post-COVID tourism resurgence, Mr Roberts nevertheless conceded that the loss of the 400-room Beach Towers - ahead of its planned transformation into the ‘Somewhere Else’ concept - had helped to drive room rates and associated yields due to the capacity reduction. “We’re just coming off a very strong July 4 weekend where our occupancies were in the mid-90s, 93-94 percent. Going into this
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Merchant’s remote shift ends 50-year retail era By FAY SIMMONS Tribune BUSINESS REPORTER jsimmons@tribunemedia.net A BAHAMIAN merchant has shuttered its retail store after more than 50 years in business as part of a restructuring that now sees it providing reduced services remotely. Albury’s Locksmithing, located on Shirley Street next to the Dundas Centre for the Performing Arts, has moved to sell-off its windows, awnings and other products as part of the transition to providing locksmithing and safe
services without a physical location The company was founded by Jason Albury and his wife, Martha, and inherited by their daughter, Melissa Roberts, and her husband, Dallas, upon their passing. Mr Roberts told Tribune Business that, although difficult decision, the retail store’s closure “had to be done”. He explained that the move was driven by a combination of decreased business following the COVID-19 pandemic and tax-related reforms and increases introduced by the Government.
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Bahamas ‘not tapped out’: FDI inflows at $1.3bn high By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Bahamas is “nowhere near to tapping out” its ability to attract greater foreign direct investment (FDI) flows, it was argued yesterday, after these increased by 6 percent to near-$1.3bn in 2022. Hubert Edwards, the Organisation for Responsible Governance’s (ORG) economic development committee head, told Tribune Business that while a United Nations (UN) agency’s report signalled The Bahamas is “holding its own” in the competition for investment capital it needs to intensify its efforts even more to generate the GDP
HUBERT EDWARDS growth its present economic and fiscal circumstances. The United Nations Council for Trade and Development (UNCTAD), unveiling its 2023 world investment report
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By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net BAHAMIAN fishermen were yesterday said to be “distressed” over “tenfold” rises in annual boat registration fees that are causing “a lot of panic” in the sector. Paul Maillis, the National Fisheries Association’s (NFA) secretary, told Tribune Business that the body and wider fishing industry were hoping to first gain “clarity” over the increases, how they impact the sector and the wider fiscal objectives before seeking to meet with the Government to make the case for the fees to be adjusted. With the Budget’s fee and other reforms now passed into law and in effect since July 1, fishermen and other Bahamian boat owners are only now just waking up to the scale of the increases imposed in the Water Skiing and Motor Boat Control (Amendment) Bill 2023 and its implications
for their interests and livelihoods. Mr Maillis said it appeared as if the reforms had effectively “taken away” the tax break fishermen previously enjoyed, allowing them to import their vessels duty-free, through the hike in first-time and annual registration renewals. And, given that fees were based on the length of vessels, as opposed to their use, value or owner’s wealth, he argued that fishermen whose “profits are on the margin” have to pay the same as owners of multimillion dollar yachts. “This is an issue of great concern for us,” he confirmed to this newspaper. “With the increasing cost of doing business in The Bahamas, especially in the fishing industry, it’s distressing to see such a drastic increase in cost with regard to the registration of vessels. We’re talking a tenfold increase in the cost per year for registering vessels.
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