In the meantime, the Internet-based Boycott Bahamas campaign, designed to protest the fee hikes, has not lost any momentum.
Months ago, tourism officials announced that they were rethinking their original decision. Tourism minister Obie Wilchcombe says he wants to be sure that the ultimate decision is the right one.
The Permanent Secretary Colin Higgs has been appointed to chair a committee that is looking in depth into the issue.
“We want to ensure that the decisions we make moving forward are those that are acceptable in the general market place and allow us to be able to build the industry and allow for the compensation of that which we do deliver,” Minister Wilchcombe told the Bahama Journal.
The owners of vessels 35 feet and larger now have to pay a $300 cruising permit fee, two times more than the original $100 fee. those who own vessels under 35 feet are currently paying $150, a $50 price hike.
The fee increases are part of the government’s renewed scheme to increase revenue and were announced a day after Prime Minister Perry Christie delivered his budget communication to Parliament in June.
Soon Florida boaters who have been among the most vocal about the changes are expected to stage their annual boat show. The tourism minister says he hopes to have a decision by then…
“I expect to have a report early this week and I expect to discuss with my Cabinet colleagues the way forward. We want to have a position to be able to express to boaters involved in the industry when they meet at the Florida Boat Show later this month or early next month,” the Tourism Minister said.
Foreign boaters have not been too happy about the hike in permit fees, leading to worries about the impact on family island economies that depend upon the income from that sector.
Caught in the middle are the fragile economies of Family Islands whose close knit communities rely to a large extent on the revenue brought in by visiting boaters.
In the latest development, the Boat Owners Association of The United States stepped into the fray threatening an exacting toll on the Bahamas, a country that thrives off tourism dollars.
The Virginia-based organization had urged all Bahamas bound cruisers to join the Internet campaign to protest “unreasonable” increases in cruising permit fees, taking the melee, that has ignited critical comments from American boaters and proud Bahamians, another step.
“A reasonable increase might be warranted if the Bahamian government could show some tangible benefits,” said President Jim Ellis. “But the steep increase, as well as the way it was implemented raises a great deal of concern.”
The precarious conflict has caused tempers to flare on both sides.
The Bahama Journal
