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Friday, November 21, 2025
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Briland tourism operator: Expartner ‘trying to destroy me’ • Conch & Coconut feared ruin for tourism ‘high season’ A BRILAND tourism operator urgently sought the • Cut-off from customer base Supreme Court’s protection amid fears that its former US amid false closure claims partner was “actively trying to destroy the business” just as the tourism “high season” • Threat of staff walk-out, launched. clients, bank, suppliers lost The ‘certificate of urgency’, By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
which resulted in an Order barring Pablo Conde from interfering or intervening with Conch & Coconut’s Harbour Island operations, revealed that Julian ‘Shaq’ Gibson’s ex-business partner had totally cut the tour operator, destination management and visitor “concierge” business off from access to its customer base. Simone Morgan-Gomez, the Callenders & Co attorney representing Mr Gibson and Conch & Coconut’s Bahamian operations, successfully argued in a November 12, 2025, document obtained by Tribune Business that there
was “a real possibility” the Briland business would be “irreparably harmed” if the injunction was not granted because Mr Conde’s actions were undermining its “ability to secure and maintain customers, creditors, banking partners and suppliers”. Prior to the acrimonious break-up of the two sides’ business relationship, Conch & Coconut’s website, social media, booking and payments platforms were under Mr Conde’s control in the US. Mr Gibson and his Bahamian attorneys are arguing
that their former US partner has exploited this to falsely describe Conch & Coconut as closed on Google, while refusing to pass on customer contacts and leads to the Bahamian operation. They also allege that Mr Gibson and the Briland-based business have been cut-off and excluded from their traditional customer acquisition platform even though Mr Conde, as a foreigner, cannot own or operate Conch & Coconut as it is in an industry reserved 100 percent exclusively for Bahamian
ownership and control under the National Investment Policy. Amid all the noise stemming from his messy split with Mr Conde, Mr Gibson and his attorneys told the Supreme Court that the negative publicity - combined with Mr Conde’s alleged continuing obstruction and interference - would deter and eliminate customer bookings; undermine Conch & Coconut’s supplier and creditor relationships, with the result it may lose access to vendor credit; and drive staff to seek jobs elsewhere. Emphasising that Mr Conde and his US companies “cannot lawfully own, operate and/or control the business of” Conch & Coconut, “which is restricted to Bahamian nationals”, Mr Gibson and his attorneys alleged: “The claimant is actively trying to destroy the defendants’ business by… listing the defendants’ business as temporarily closed on
LONG Island’s hotel bed inventory is exceeded by onethird, or around 400 persons, when the island’s population swells at regatta time, it was asserted yesterday, exposing the need for a co-ordinated strategy to maximise the benefits of such events. Dwight Burrows, treasurer of the Long Islanders Association, told the Long Island Business Outlook conference that the destination excels in cultural tourism, its annual regatta, Mutton Fest, mini-regattas, homecomings
and sailing club events, which attract thousands tourists and Bahamians. He said that during the last Regatta week, the island attracted about 1,200 visitors, which represented a 45 percent increase in persons present in Long Island over that weekend compared to normal population size. The jump in visitors spiked the demand for transportation, food, accommodation, entertainment and local products. However, Long Island lacks accommodation and is unable to meet peak demand, said Mr Burrows. His research revealed that there are 10
‘Stop the haemorrhaging’ on Long Island air access By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net BAHAMASAIR can cut its losses and double annual Long Island seat capacity to 24,000 once airport improvements are executed, it was affirmed yesterday, amid pleas that the island “must stop the haemorrhaging”. Kerry Fountain, the Bahama Out Island Promotion Board’s executive director, told the Long Island Business Outlook conference that improving air accessibility to the island - from Stella Maris airport in the north to Deadman’s Cay airport in the south - is
KERRY FOUNTAIN the “button with the quickest fix” for both the tourism sector and wider economy that relies heavily upon it. Speaking to the performance of the Promotion
FLIGHTS - See Page B5
‘Turn 200k empty seats into great opportunities’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A SENIOR tourism executive says the annual 200,000 empty seats on inbound flights to Nassau represent “200,000 opportunities” for The Bahamas to increase stopover visitors if it can execute properly, a senior tourism executive asserted yesterday. Kerry Fountain, the Bahama Out Island Promotion Board’s executive director, told Tribune
Business that the empty seat capacity did not mean international and domestic airlines are suffering from low passenger load factors otherwise they would have introduced new routes and increased flight frequencies for the upcoming 2025-2026 winter season. Describing the unfilled seats on flights into Nassau, in particular, as “200,000 opportunities” for The Bahamas to capitalise on, he added: “There’s something I
AIDS - See Page B6
hotels, offering only 182 total rooms as well as 143 actively-listed vacation rentals, with only 25 of those being officially registered. He said that with so many unregistered vacation rentals, Long Island loses visibility, quality control, marketing power and revenue, which limits visitor stays and overall spend. “My research also revealed that the average daily rate for rooms on Long Island is $230, and I'm sharing this information for a reason,” Mr Burrows said. “So in practical terms, this means that rough estimates reflect that Long Island has approximately
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Long Island ‘hitting brakes at same time as the gas pedal’ • 26.5% arrivals growth despite ‘capacity constraints’ • Airport ‘obstacle limitations’ cut by 25 feet to-date • ‘Price of progress’: Temporary Stella Maris divert By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
seven to 800 total visitor beds - not rooms, beds - because some rooms have more than one bed. And this is split almost evenly between hotel beds and those Airbnbs or home stay-away beds. “So with that information, consider what happens when 1,200 visitors show up for regatta week. Immediately, demand outstrips supply, so people have to rent spare rooms. Homes become temporary motels. Coaches and sofas become makeshift beds for the lucky ones, because concrete and tile floors also work.
LONG Island’s year-to-date air arrivals have grown by 26.5 percent compared to pre-COVID levels despite “capacity constraints” that have forced the island to “press the brakes at the same time as the gas pedal”, the DR KENNETH Government’s aviaROMER tion director asserted yesterday. Dr Kenneth Romer, also deputy director general of tourism, told the Long Island Business Outlook conference that inadequate airport infrastructure - primarily a Deadman’s Cay runway that is too short with nearby hills providing further “obstacles” - has retarded the island’s economic growth and forced Bahamasair to “sometimes operate at 50-60 percent” passenger load capacity. Conceding that improvements are “long overdue”, he pledged that construction is underway and “moving aggressively to completion of airside works” that involve extending the Deadman’s Cay runway to 6,500 feet and eliminating the presence of hills that presently prevent larger aircraft bringing increased visitor numbers to Long Island. However, while revealing that 25 feet has been cut-off the offending hills, Dr Romer warned that “there’s a price for progress”. He added that, come January 2026, aviation traffic will have to be diverted from Deadman’s Cay to Stella Maris in Long Island’s north for around three months to enable the runway upgrades to be completed.
SAILING - See Page B5
AIRLIFT - See Page B6
URGENCY - See Page B4
Regatta boom exceeds Long Island bed capacity by 1/3 By ANNELIA NIXON Tribune Business Reporter anixon@tribunemedia.net
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