Flipping Grand Bahama

Last week the Grand Bahama Outlook was held at the Lucayan Grand Resort at which their were a number of interesting speakers. Today I give you the entire speech from Sarah St. George, Co-Chairman, Grand Bahama Port Authority. First, I’d like to thank Joan Albury and the Counsellors for another year’s dedication and hard work on this invaluable forum to discuss the Business Outlook for Grand Bahama with the community. I’d like to acknowledge our Grand Bahama Port Authority team. Ian Rolle President, Deann Seymour CFO, Karla McIntosh General Counsel, Derek Newbold Head of New Business Development, Troy McIntosh City Manager, LaShawn Dames of InvestGrandBahama, Telina Smith Head of Community Relations, Christine van der Linde Head of Customer Services, Nakira Wilchcombe Head of the Environmental Dept, Kimberley Miller Head of Group Corporate Affairs, and Aldora Toote my right hand. I’d also like to acknowledge Chuck Pratt Head of Freeport Commercial, Geron Tur...

With the number of things going on in Grand Bahama one can only think that it is true, change is inevitable. Many times we do not like change but sometimes its necessary to take us from where we are to where we want to be. The big news this week is the proposed sale of the Grand Lucaya Resort. During the late 1990s, the three hotels on the Lucayan Beach stretch - the Lucayan Beach Hotel, the Atlantis Beach Hotel and the Radisson were losing their lustre and two of the three were owned by the Government of The Bahamas. In a bid to get the government out of commerce they offered the hotels to the newest conglomerate coming in and as many were told, reluctantly  they accepts the hotels.  They redid the entire strip with all three hotels including the implosion of the Atlantic Beach Hotel which was rebuilt from nothing and given its new shape.  Was it a success? Many said no but the news of its being put on the auction block and some saying it has already sold to ...

If you thank we cannot fix it, then I implore you to take a step back and let those who think we can fix it step forward. Even if its just one person who feels it can be fixed can make a fix that will affect all others. Now, how to fix it. Well look at the problem and see where we can make changes. Research on the island took me to a site called Grand Bahama Future blog. It felt like a ghost town left with the wind blowing. It has been abandoned. It takes more people seeing it and making posts. I took at look at what Wikipedia had to say about Grand Bahama's economy and found this snippet, " Tourism is the mainstay of the island's economy. The resort area at Port Lucaya and visits by cruise ships provide the bulk of this activity. Grand Bahama's tourism sector is complemented by the BORCO oil bunkering facility owned by Buckeye , [ 6 ] the South Riding Point oil storage and transhipment terminal owned by Statoil , [ 7 ] and a transshipment / container p...

Yesterday the Grand Bahama Port Authority on the present tourism news and its affects on the local economy: Increased Tourism Activity Boosting Local Economy Saturday, 21 st  March, 2015 – Freeport Grand Bahama -  Bustling with a diverse demographic of clientele, Port Lucaya has seen an inflow of one-day cruise ship passengers, spring breakers making the most of their college holiday experience, as well as families enjoying the amenities of surrounding hotels. Needless to say, this bodes well not only for the marketplace and its tenants, but for residents and businesses of the island at large. According to local tour operators, the New Year has brought increased tour activity as a result of the high occupancy levels at surrounding hotels and the influx of cruise and flight passengers.  Local businessman and recipient of Carnival Cruise Line’s Tour Operator of the Year Award, Hadley Forbes, expressed his enthusiasm on the upswing of guest arrivals. “Free...

At the beginning of this week I asked a question that still only one person has answered. The question, "What future do you see for Grand Bahama?" This was one way to find out how many persons are actually reading the posts even though in total we have around 15,000 views so far and for the article on Sarah St. George at the Grand Bahama Business Outlook we have almost 500 views alone, the highest views per page yet. It was great to hear Terence Gapes"  view during the Chamber of Commerce meeting this week though, almost in answer to the question, but he also brought with him a pamphlet entitled, "Economic Crisis in Freeport: A Call to Action Volume 1." This is what I wish to share today. The attorney noted that this was an article written since September 2012 with a follow up, "Call to Action II: Freeport 2015 and the Bridge to Nowhere." Mr. Gape further said that since the Call to Action I the conditions of the economy in Freeport...

This month for the second time in years a number of Grand Bahamians volunteered to be part of a cruise ship staff. Following training and during the graduation ceremony Sen. Julian Russell, Chairman, Hotel Corporation of the Bahamas,  told the  Standard Training and Certified Watch Keepers ( STCW95) that the return of the Grand Celebration on which they will be working is expecting to bring great numbers of passengers to Grand Bahama. He told the recruits that the Global Cruise industry will be watching closely in anticipation to see how well the first successful recruits from Grand Bahama Island will deliver on The Bahamas' reputation as a regional tourism leader and as one of the worlds leading cruise ports of call. Just last year the Celebration was taken out of services after an accident at the Freeport Harbour but a new and bigger ship, a luxury cruise and stay product has joined the Celebration and will be taking passengers between the countries three times a week....