There are suggestions that when mega developments are grounded in The Bahamas, they should be weaned off public funding. As for ailing hotels and their indebtedness to government, the time has come for them to either get their affairs in order or pack up and yield to others who wish to invest in the sector.
There is, in the specific instance of some of the properties on the Cable Beach Strip, the clearest implication and suggestion that they may be past their prime. Under current circumstances, it is highly doubtful that they can long continue, as they have been going up to now. In light of the fact that The Bahamas is ultra dependent on the sale of services for its survival, it is incumbent on government and its social partners to so order their affairs that tourism and other services are always well maintained and presented.
In addition, it is always important for Bahamians to take note of the fact that their competitors are always searching for ways to increase their leverage. For example, if reference is made to Cuba and its expanding role in the tourism business, there is an all but certain prospect that as it opens up to the international market, it will pose a direct challenge to The Bahamas and the rest of the Caribbean. With a population of almost 12 million, it is already a powerhouse.
As The Bahamas tries to maintain its footing in a world economy over which it has little control, it must do everything in its power to stay afloat. Close observers of the national economic scene – whether Bahamian or foreign – often take note of a powerful paradox, which is that ownership of tourism plant in The Bahamas is spectacularly deficient in marketing and promotions. As a result, the product on Cable Beach is lagging.
As commonplace as this observation is, it has a number of powerful implications for how tourism is conceived, designed and marketed in and to The Bahamas. At the center of the complex of issues involving tourism and its impact on The Bahamas, is the fact that successive Bahamian governments – going back to the fifties and sixties when Stafford L. Sands was large and in charge – have all played a large role in promoting The Bahamas. This is so today.
Mega projects like Atlantis; the all-inclusives and all other properties benefit from this large outlay of public expenditure. This brings us to what we consider a vital aspect of the current equation concerning the winners and losers in this scenario.
What we find most intriguing is that while some initiatives are more than holding their own, others are swimming in a sea of red ink. In one instance, one large operator has managed to rack up large debts with the Gaming Commission and other government owned entities. This is wrong, and something should be done about it. Our position is that if certain operators are either unable or unwilling to get their act together by upgrading their properties, to make them more competitive, the administration should make it its business to get them to shape up, or leave the marketplace.
Hanging on this decision are other important issues, particularly some which pertain to the overall value and presentation of the national tourism product. This raises serious issues concerning whether the Bahamian people are getting value for the money, the government expends on tourism promotion. What is most disturbing about the current imbalance between projects which are surging ahead, and others which are trailing is that the latter may already be a net drain on the entire system.
Put otherwise, The Bahamas may have reached that fork in the rod, where the administration might find itself incapable of continuing to prop up properties which are not competitive. This has direct implications for the resolution of a number of more general issues regarding the long term development of the industry.
Editorial, The Bahama Journal
