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FRIDAY, JULY 9, 2021
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pledge on Tourism’s ‘perfect storm’ Regulator in Cable Bahamas probe missing out on 15-20% By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
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HE hotel industry’s top executive yesterday said that despite “the perfect storm” driving the sector’s recovery he remains concerned about the 15-20 percent of visitor source markets that have yet to re-open. Robert Sands, the Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association’s (BHTA) president, told Tribune Business it was critical that Canada and European countries outside the UK fully permit outbound travel so that this nation can reduce its overdependence on the US for
• Hotels chief wants Canada, Europe return • But brands 1m stopover goal ‘achievable’ • Small groups now aiding ‘domino’ growth
ROBERT SANDS post-COVID visitors. Branding the 1m stopover visitor target set for 2021 by Dionisio D’Aguilar, minister of tourism and aviation,
as “achievable”, he said: “I think we also have to be concerned that maybe 15-20 percent of our generating markets have not really allowed outbound travel; some places in Europe, and some places in Canada. “The UK is just getting back to some semblance of normalcy. We are seeing a lot of demand coming primarily from the US this summer, and if other countries can get into gear - we’ve heard from the UK, but haven’t heard from other European countries
and Canada - then those numbers can continue to grow.” Mr D’Aguilar yesterday branded the continued reluctance of many Bahamians to become vaccinated against COVID-19 as “the elephant in the room” for tourism’s recovery and Mr Sands, while not using that language, acknowledged that it remains “a potential impediment” to the industry’s full revival and that of the wider economy.
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Govt’s $1.851bn borrowing at ‘lower cost’ to taxpayers By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Ministry of Finance’s top official yesterday voiced optimism that the government’s $1.851bn borrowing this fiscal year will come at a lower cost to the Bahamian people based on “market soundings”. Marlon Johnson, acting financial secretary, told Tribune Business that yield curves on existing government debt were already falling to levels more in line with historical trends as investor sentiment towards The Bahamas improves with the economy’s “reflating”. He added that the government was also moving to “rebalance” its debt financing during the 2021-2022 fiscal year, with 51.8 percent ($959.2m) of its needs slated to come from foreign currency and the remaining
• Top official ‘confident’ on cheaper interest rates • Move to ‘rebalance’ borrowing with $892m local • ‘Sufficient room for uptake’ among local investors
MARLON JOHNSON 48.2 percent or $892.4m sourced in the local capital markets. Asked whether there was sufficient appetite for long-term paper, given that institutional investors are
COVID ‘bummer’ for Bimini revival By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
A PROMINENT Bimini dive operator yesterday revealed significant cancellations as a result of newly-imposed COVID restrictions, which he branded “a bummer” for hopes of an economic “shot in the arm”. Neal Watson, owner of Neal Watson’s Bimini Scuba Centre, told Tribune Business he may have lost some $10,000 worth of business over the next two weeks as
a result of Crystal Cruises cancelling planned stops at the island in response to the recent spike in COVID-19 cases. While the impact on the July 4 US independence weekend had been muted, apart from Crystal’s cancellation, due to visitors not learning about the new restrictions in time, Mr Watson said it was locally-owned businesses - especially bars and restaurants - that were suffering from enforced closures and the 7pm curfew start.
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Bahamas First rebounds over $5m motor drop-off By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net BAHAMAS First’s top executive yesterday said it has made solid progress in recovering the $5m falloff in motor premiums suffered in 2020, but added: “We don’t want to count our chickens before they hatch.” Patrick Ward, the property and casualty underwriter’s president and chief executive, told Tribune Business that it was “close” to seeing vehicle insurance premiums returning to pre-COVID levels as
PATRICK WARD tourism rebounded and the economy opened up. He spoke out after Bahamas First’s just-released annual report revealed that 2020 motor insurance premiums suffered the greatest top-line impact of
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increasingly gravitating towards short-term bonds due to the increased risk surrounding the government as a result of Hurricane Dorian, COVID19 and multiple credit rating
downgrades, Mr Johnson conceded it was “a mixed bag”. However, he argued that the government was still receiving requests from institutions such as banks and insurance companies who are seeking long-term maturities to match liabilities of a similar duration. And Mr Johnson said the administration had received sufficient indications to indicate “there’s sufficient room for uptake” of government securities generally among Bahamian investors, even though there were signs some institutions may be approaching their
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REGULATORS last night pledged to investigate Cable Bahamas’ TV service quality and said they were “majorly concerned” by the length and frequency of outages suffered by customers. The Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA), in announcing that it has approved the proposed restructuring of the BISX-listed communications provider’s REV cable TV packages, said it was unable to ignore the “recurring complaints” from Bahamians about service interruptions and other issues associated with the product. Reporting on the replies received to the REV package restructuring consultation, URCA said: “Complaints regarding Cable Bahamas’ service quality was a recurring theme in the responses. In addition to public complaints, URCA is aware of persistent and wide-scale service interruptions in the form of error messages consistently appearing on screen, regular service outages at 2am, pixelated channels and other issues. “Although comments concerning service quality are out of scope for the current application, URCA is majorly concerned with the level and frequency of service interruptions and will open an independent investigation following the publication of URCA’s final decision to better understand these and other matters surrounding Cable Bahamas’ service quality.” The communications industry regulator urged Cable Bahamas customers to bring such issues to its attention via its “complaint handling process”, and added that its “quality of
‘Majorly concerned’ by amount of TV interruption complaints
service” regulations may be able to redress some of the problems. However, URCA did not do what many had urged in their feedback, and require that service quality issues be addressed before it approved Cable Bahamas’ REV channel package restructuring and any associated price increases. “Many respondents were unhappy with Cable Bahamas’ television service quality due to recurring outages, error messages, pixelated channels, an incorrect TV guide (what was stated on the TV guide did not match what was shown on TV), and dissatisfaction with DVR boxes,” URCA said in a deeper description of the feedback received. “Respondents felt that Cable Bahamas should correct its service quality issues before restructuring its packages or increasing its prices. Respondents were unhappy that they did not receive any reimbursement for Cable Bahamas’ outages or service disruptions. “In their view, Cable Bahamas did not practice any leniency when applying late fees or sending bill reminders despite regular disruptions. Some blamed Cable Bahamas’ reduction in subscribers on the poor quality of service instead of the advent of competing streaming services which Cable Bahamas attributed
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