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| Prime Minister of The Bahamas, the Rt. Hon. Hubert Alexander Ingraham |
In Grand Bahama, people have good reason for optimism.
The newly elected Bahamian prime minister is one of their own. Hubert Ingraham, 59, is a native of Pine Ridge. A lawyer and veteran politician, he’s the son of a stevedore and a maid. And a top priority for his Free National Movement (FNM) government is to revitalize Grand Bahama’s depressed tourism industry.
Speaking in Freeport at a post-election rally in mid-May, Ingraham pledged to get “Freeport and Grand Bahama off the tourism back burner; bring you to the front burner so that you can receive all the attention and opportunities you so richly require and deserve.”
He assigned this task to Neko Grant, head of the newly created ministry of tourism and aviation.
Grant also is a Member of Parliament representing Grand Bahama. In all, five MPs in the fiscally conservative ruling party hold six of Grand Bahama’s seats in Parliament. Three of those MPs are in Ingraham’s cabinet – Grant included.
On top of that, Ingraham told the rally, “I shall, God willing, create a Ministry of Grand Bahama Affairs.”
Summing up the atmosphere across the island of 50,000, an editorial in The Freeport News observed: “An exhilarating air of optimism permeates the atmosphere in Grand Bahama these days in the aftermath of the recent general elections, with expectations running high that referring to Freeport as the Magic City will soon once again be a statement of fact rather than a reference to the city’s past glory days.”
Speaking to Parliament recently, Grant said his tourism ministry would spend $8 million to promote and develop Grand Bahama, part of a “full court-press in our first year to deliver on the restoration of the tourism sector” there. He noted hotel occupancy rates were 71 percent for New Providence and Paradise Island – compared to 56 percent for Grand Bahama and 37 percent for the outlying “Family Islands,” as they’re called.
Grand Bahama is the fourth largest island in the 700-island Bahamian archipelago, reaching as close as 55 miles to Florida’s southeastern coast.
Among the initiatives Grant outlined for Grand Bahama:
The government will work “swiftly and closely” with Ireland-based Harcourt Group to reopen the 427-acre resort known as Royal Oasis, which the investors recently acquired. The resort closed three years ago after suffering hurricane damage, resulting in the loss of 1,000 jobs.
“Even in their worst-performing year of operations, the Royal Oasis Resort and Casino’s payroll alone represented an injection of some $20 million in the Grand Bahama economy,” Grant noted. He wants construction underway by year’s end, with the resort open for business by the winter of 2008.
The tourism ministry will engage the owners and operators of the 1,200-room resort Westin and Sheraton at Our Lucaya – along with their casino operator – to spur the “re-energizing” of their marketing efforts. The property is owned by Hutchison Lucaya Ltd. and operated by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. Isle of Capri is its casino operator.
The ministry will find a suitable developer to build a new cruise ship port in Freeport’s harbor, which Grant wants to be operating within two years. The current port is in an industrial area. Grant said that, “Grand Bahama’s Port experience is among the lowest anywhere.”
With a modern and appealing port, however, Grant predicted that cruise ship arrivals would more than double in the first year and triple within two years. He estimated that they would spend some $49 million, benefiting Bahamians who provide transportation, sell souvenirs, and provide services such as hair-braiding and entertainment.
Grant predicted the initiatives would revitalize the economy within two years.
On another front, Grant called for the establishment of daily ferry service between Grand Bahamas and South Florida. “It would support tourism and provide essential services for communities in Grand Bahama and the island of Abaco,” he said.”
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