According to Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe the casino’s operators recently informed the Bahamas government and Hutchison Whampoa that they would be pulling out of Freeport in a year.
He said the government is having talks as early as today with potential new owners.
MP for Lucaya Neko Grant said he has his doubts that the government will be able to find a new owner for the Isle of Capri property in time, which would lead to the laying off of hundreds of workers.
“I just don’t think that they are being fair or honest with the Bahamian people,” said Grant. “How secure are jobs when it took some time for them to find Isle of Capri.”
MP for High Rock Kenneth Russell said there may be an even more urgent possibility of the hotel pulling out of Freeport before their projected exit deadline of one year.
However, Mr Wilchcombe said that the government has had assurances that the company will not pull out before the
end of the one year contract and that none of the remaining 283 employees will be fired within that year.
He also said that if the hotel tried to pull out before the end of the one year there would be a $2 to $3 million penalty – “so why would they do that?”
The hotel, though, had recently laid off 45 people. Mr Russell expressed his concern that the new owners would do some checks and find that bringing their business to Grand Bahama would not be worthwhile.
According to Mr Grant he sees no change on the horizon for the economic predicament of Grand Bahama.
Mr Wilchcombe said that tourism is up this year in comparison to last year, but Mr Grant pointed out that air and sea arrivals are down.
The MP for Lucaya said he spoke to taxi drivers who line their cars up at the harbour on Friday and leave them over the weekend in hopes of getting a fare on Monday – as the number of tourists is very low.
“People are having their cars repossessed and they are losing their homes; they are catching eternal hell,” said Mr Grant. The three hurricanes which hit Grand Bahama in 2004; Frances, Jean and Wilma, cost the tourism industry millions of dollars and subsequently led to the closing of the Royal Oasis Resort and Casino and :he loss of jobs for thousands of Grand Bahamians.
According to Mr Russell the government has allocated $8 million to aid in Freeport’s restructuring.
The MP said he has no idea exactly how they are going to se the money, but intends to find out.
The Ministry of Tourism is under heavy pressure to reboot Grand Bahama’s economy and Mr Wilchcombe is confident that things will begin to look better, with prospects of new investors on the horizon.
“New owners are anxious to get in here,” said Mr Wilchcombe. “Grand Bahama will rebound and rebound in a big way.”
Source: The Tribune
