CONTRIBUTION TO MID-YEAR BUDGET DEBATE BY THE HON. I. CHESTER COOPER, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER AND MINISTER OF TOURISM, INVESTMENTS & AVIATION AND MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR THE EXUMAS AND RAGGED ISLAND, MARCH 17, 2022
Madame Speaker,
I would like to wish you and all the members of this House a good morning.
To my wonderful constituents throughout the Exumas and Ragged Island who sent me to this place, I give my eternal thanks and reiterate my commitment to being a good and humble steward for my constituency, a good deputy to my prime minister and an effective, compassionate and diligent member of Cabinet.
I would also like to thank the minister of finance for his communication and subsequent presentation.
I think he has done a great job of explaining our circumstances and where we were when we came to office, outlining the measures taken by our administration, what was found and explaining where we want to take the country.
He has my full support, as does this mid-term budget communication.
I do have limited time today, so I will focus more on my portfolio, rather than the thrust of the overall budget and give an account for my stewardship.
I would like to acknowledge my friend the Minister of Tourism & Transport, Mr. Kenneth Bryan, who is sitting in the gallery today as he visits our lovely country, along with his colleagues from the Ministry of Tourism.
I ask that you welcome them warmly.
I would note, that I am speaking at two different places at the same time today.
Right now, I am addressing the Grand Bahama Business Outlook, updating them on the developments that are ongoing on that island and the exciting things are on the the horizon.
I will touch on some of those developments here, but I wish I had an hour. There is so much good news to share about what this administration is accomplishing in tourism, investments and aviation.
What I want to say to the Bahamian people is that after much suffering, some of which was beyond our control, and some of which was directly due to the missteps of the Minnis administration, ‘Happy Days are Here Again’.
What is undeniable is that we have turned a corner in the COVID-19 pandemic and we have turned a corner in the return of tourism to our shores.
In 2019, we experienced a record year in tourism arrivals with over seven million visitors.
The following year, we saw a decline of 75 percent, with 1.75 million stopover and cruise visitors combined.
Last year saw a return to more robust numbers with more resorts coming back on stream and cruise ships seeing a return to more robust passenger numbers.
The UNWTO was right. The Caribbean continue to lead Tourism’s rebound in the world and Bahamas is leading the rebound in the region.
This has not been an easy time for the industry.
Health officials and tourism officials have worked diligently to strike a balance between generating more money in the economy and keeping the health and safety of our residents and visitors paramount in our minds. Thanks to the MOH & Health officials for their diligence and collaboration.
Let me be clear that our rebound over the past 6 months, result of the sensible balanced policies of our administration. We did not throw caution to the wind as we were lobbied to do by some. We understand our clear mandate to protect our economy and the welfare of the Bahamian people.
This year, we have seen more resorts fully open, such as the beautifully renovated Sandals Royal Bahamian and Margarita Ville and The Pointe.
Recently, the Ministry of Health, after consultation with my ministry and industry stakeholders, dropped the requirement for masks in hotel lobbies, corridors, casinos, and outdoors given social distancing of three feet between people not of the same household.
It is important to note that The Bahamas travel advisory by the US State Department has also been reduced to a level three in recent days and we believe we will continue to see that drop as we fare well with COVID-19 infections. Good for groups, corporate and conventions.
Let me say that I also hear the calls of those opposite, who claim we are being in hasty in our relaxation of COVID-19 protocols.
Well, yesterday made six months since we won the government and the difference in our approach could not be starker and our successes could not be clearer.
Speaking of successes, and my Exuma people are very excited about this, regattas are going to start up again.
It is a much-welcomed development that will help return a sector of our tourism business that is a popular signature of our Family Islands.
National Family Island Regatta will be held in Exuma April 20 – 23, in beautiful Elizabeth Harbor.
That’s right “Happy Days are here again”.
CRUISE TOURISM
I would also like to note that cruise ships no longer need to present a passenger and crew manifest, which discloses vaccination status.
Madame Speakers, this was most welcome news to the cruise industry that has recently been doing bustling business at the Port of Nassau.
Earlier this month, the Nassau Cruise Port accommodated a record six cruise ships in port on a single day.
This after successfully completing a sixth marine berth at the port.
With six ships in port, that brought nearly 12,000 visitors to Nassau Harbour, meaning extra money for vendors, restaurants and shops, and extra taxes for the government.
More money in More Pockets!
And all can see that Bay Street is buzzing, madame speaker. Happy Days are here again.
In fact, with the ease in COVID protocols occurring steadily in the cruise industry, we will see even more passengers coming as the cruise ports bookings for this year expected to exceed last year and bookings for next year to exceed 2022.
The port can also now accommodate the world’s largest ships.
Also this month, we welcomed Royal Caribbean’s Wonder of the Seas and we expect to welcome Carnival’s newest ship in November.
Cruise tourism is experiencing an increase in bookings after mass cancellations in January.
And we are expanding our capacity for cruise visitors infrastructure wise, while preparing downtown to become one of the best destination attractions in the region.
With more than $130 million invested to date, all the berthing work at the port is due to be complete before the summer, the rest of the major work and the superstructure is expected to be complete by December 31, 2022 sparking the redevelopment of Downtown, Nassau.
FIXING BAY STREET
I’d like to take a moment to be very clear on something.
While there is no question that the new cruise port will greatly enhance downtown, with more than $200m in investments, we are by no means satisfied with the state of downtown.
To put it frankly, much of it is an eyesore and the old world charm that we have tried to preserve for decades, has been lost among the dilapidated buildings and lack of proper structure, and city management.
Let me also be clear in stating that the status quo cannot be allowed to remain.
Hundreds of millions of dollars in investment cannot be complemented by acres of neglect and disrepair.
How we got here is less important that what we intend to do next.
Next week, I will be meeting with downtown property owners to discuss the way forward.
I grew up in Sunday School. In the book of John it mandates us to “Work Whilst it is Day, night cometh when no man can work”
When my time here is done I won’t be sitting over there like them talking about “Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda” but didn’t!
If seems like we are in a hurry to accomplish our Blue Print for Change its because we are!
NCP, Downtown, Nassau is the single busiest port of entry into this country, and I would imagine the region.
It sees the most visitors and should be one of the most attractive places in our country that greets our guests with the best representation of The Bahamas.
We will apply existing laws to manage downtown and introduce new ones where necessary to have it restored, kept clean and provide a unique experience for our visitors and Bahamians.
Downtown should be one of our proudest achievements, not a place we continue to make excuses for.
The state of this historic thoroughfare is disgraceful and embarrassing.
Downtown is unfortunately littered with too many derelict buildings that have become havens for vagrancy that is a constant complaint of Bahamians and our guests.
I plan to work with the Ministry of Works, the police, the Office of the Attorney General and the Office of the Prime Minister to tackle these issues head on.
The Downtown Nassau Partnership has done a tremendous job seeking to correct an incredibly difficult issue.
I applaud their work over these many years and pledge to partner with them to expedite the shared vision for a safe, rejuvenated, economically viable Downtown.
This month I will meet with a group of local artists who want to help to use their work and that of local artisans to create a mini art design district that also has unique culinary offerings in the vein of what we see along West Hill Street with the Historic Charles Towne area and the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas.
I don’t think the wheel needs to be reinvented in this aspect.
We have numerous thoroughly researched studies that deal with the redevelopment of Downtown.
We will nonetheless engage the public for their ideas.
We will support Bahamian entrepreneurs through the SBDC and the Tourism Development Corporation. We will ensure opportunity at NCP for Bahamian entrepreneurs in a transparent process that will open in September.
We will establish business incubation centers East of Bay Street with sleek shared office spaces like the Incudesk model as well as a high-end authentically Bahamian marketplace.
We are calling on Bahamian entrepreneurs, property owners and new investors to take advantage of the downtown redevelopment
incentives and participate in this massive exercise to Rebuild, Restore and Revolutionize.
We can restore the historic charm. We must be intentional. We can rebuild and transform our city center with our own hands.
STOP-OVER VISITORS
Madame Speaker, along with cruise arrivals are stop over visitors.
What we see on the market is a lot of demand for The Bahamas, but there can be a dearth of rooming options.
Put simply, we need more room capacity.
As IMF study notes that despite our feat of welcoming more than 7 million visitors to the Bahamas, which is to be celebrated, between 1995 and 2018 when we compare the percentage of the total tourist arrival to the region we have dropped from 13 percent to 5 percent.
Let me repeat that!
In short, relative to many of our counterparts, we are losing ground.
Whilst we will continue to focus on our niche, these statistics tell us that we cannot rest on our laurels.
Therefore, the Davis-Cooper administration has set a target of doubling our stopover visitors in five years. Working with the British Colonial and Club Med in San Salvador and both will be open in time for the winter season.
San Salvador, your Prime Minister is working for you!
If all goes according to plan, and if current trends continue we should see 2019 tourism levels met or surpassed by next year.
We want to encourage and push for improving current room capacity through incentives available under the Hotels Encouragement Act with aggressive targets to be materialize by mid-term of this administration.
We anticipate that with the new and improved room capacity with sophisticated international booking and marketing operations of Team Tourism to increase The Bahamas’ visibility and ability to capture the attention of new and past visitors.
As I have mentioned before, we are advancing the process of registration of Air BNBs and other vacation rentals and improving government revenue collection.
We will in turn work with the Ministry of Finance to re-invest to creatively grow this sector.
To execute this strategy in tandem with our increasing cruise capacity we could see the Bahamas regain its standing within the next five years.
AIRLIFT
To double stopover visitors, we have to not only increase room capacity but also increase available flights working along with our partners.
As you know, we plan to build new airports at Exuma, North Eleuthera, Long Island and, of course, Grand Bahama International Airport and New Bight Cat Island,
Cat Island, your MP is working for you!
I will explain something about the Grand Bahama International Airport in just a moment, but I want the nation and world to be assured that we are moving forward with those airports in the Family Islands and we have RFPs for those being prepared for release as I speak.
With regard to increasing stopover arrivals, Bahamasair will play an important role.
In a recent aviation sector meetings, I confessed having participated in making a gang of jokes about Bahamasair in the past.
But I don’t find it funny anymore.
What we know is that we are sustaining Bahamasair through substantial government subvention at a level that is unsustainable for the public purse.
We have mandated the board of Bahamasair to review its efficiencies, best practice and present a strategic plan that will not only improve efficiencies but will strengthen its role in improving tourism airlift and getting heads in beds.
We should soon be able to give a more substantive update on the future of the national flag carrier shortly.
While we are discussing the aviation sector, we are making progress in term of our overall ICAO validation.
The draft report of an ICAO mission to The Bahamas in November and December of last year was received by Civil Aviation Authority of The Bahamas earlier this month.
The executive summary of the draft report indicates the Universal Safety Oversight Audit Program of the civil aviation system of The Bahamas conducted in October and November of 2017 generated an overall effective implantation of the state’s safety oversight system of 32.17 percent.
However, the audit conducted in The Bahamas late last year saw us jump to an overall effective implementation of 63.2 percent.
So, we have made notable progress in that area.
I thank the ladies and gentlemen of the Civil Aviation Authority ADG Alex Ferguson and those throughout our aviation sector for their hard work.
We will continue to move the dial in that regard.
GRAND BAHAMA
I mentioned the Grand Bahama International Airport a few minutes ago.
I am elated to announce, as I also did at the Grand Bahama Business Outlook this morning, that the request for proposals for the redevelopment of the Grand Bahama International Airport will open before the end of this month – on March 28th to be
We are looking for an investor who will in a PPP create a world class airport and the stunning entryway into Grand Bahama, which the people of Grand Bahama deserves.
We are encouraging all of the Bahamian groups who have been approaching me to actively engage in this process. I have indicated to the Department of Aviation that this must not be a protracted exercise. The people of Grand Bahama has suffered long enough at the hands of the previous administration.
This process will close in 30 days.
We want to attract big investors to the island of Grand Bahama and see the second city return to its glory days. Like MFGB said yesterday “we will make it GB’s time”
In order to do that, we need their first impression of Grand Bahama to be a good one.
Redeveloping, maintaining and operating the Grand Bahama International Airport is top priority, and we are proud today to do just that.
This public private partnership program is not just to bring in investors but also to bring hope and financial stability back to the people of Grand Bahama.
So, I say to the people of Grand Bahama that we are committed to your success.
Grand Bahama, Happy Days are almost here again.
Madame Speaker, the Grand Lucayan Resort has also seen a great deal of progress over the past few months.
As I also told the Grand Bahama Business Outlook, we have invited five bidders to present to the board of Lucayan Renewal Holdings Limited this coming Sunday.
After which we intend to enter into exclusive negotiations for the sale and redevelopment of the resort.
Vision, financial capacity and speed of mobilizing along with a commitment to the shared vision for the Grand Bahama International Airport will be the overarching factors that inform our selection of the bidder with whom we will enter exclusive negotiation.
We expect to update the public further by the end of March.
I have assured the people of Grand Bahama that we would not tarry. We will work whilst it is day.
We are keen to see the construction phase of this resort proceed in order to create what we anticipate will be hundreds of jobs and much more opportunity for Grand Bahama.
For over three years, we decried the former administration’s purchase, poor handling of negotiations related to the hotel. We now have an opportunity to do something about it.
It is our hope that the Bahamian people will be able to rest comfortably that their affairs are now being managed by prudent, competent stewards who actually have their best interests in mind.
Grand Bahama, you have suffered long the ravages of Dorian, Covid and the Minnis Administration.
I am pleased to tell you, that Happy Days are almost here again.
Further I want the people of Grand Bahamas to know that my colleague, the Hon Minister for Grand Bahama also announced this morning at GBO that the Carnival Cruise Lines Grand Bahama Port that has languished in the limbo of the bureaucracy of the former administration, has now received all of its approvals and we expect that it will be moving ahead with a groundbreaking to be held during the month of May 2022.
This project will offer hundreds of jobs during the construction phase which should commence in earnest during the third quarter of this year.
I reiterate that announcement was made by the minister for Grand Bahama for all to hear that in Grand Bahama, happy days are almost here again.
We are optimistic that the major pieces to spur the revitalization of Grand Bahama will come on stream fully by 2024, bringing some much needed economic stimulus and structural advancement to the island.
INVESTMENTS
Madame Speaker, we have already begun the work of transforming the Bahamas Investment Authority and have already revised the National Economic Council.
This has allowed us to approve numerous new investments that will impact the economy in the short to medium term.
To date, we have approved over $1 billion in investments, with $500 million approved for Exuma alone.
Eleuthera and Abaco are also hot investment areas at the moment, with Disney in the final stages of approval and new Ritz Carlton coming on in the medium term for Eleuthera. The government of the Bahamas
is also actively engaged with three additional developers for South Eleuthera.
South Eleuthera has seen its share of struggle.
I say to my friend and colleague from South and Central Eleuthera, Happy Days are almost here again.
The Davis-Cooper administration has sent a clear message that we are open for business and we mean business.
Not only are we approving projects in tourism, but we are also approving projects in relation to ports, renewable energy and agri business.
Let me be clear that some of these projects have Bahamian investors.
It is our government’s philosophy that certain segments continue to remain exclusively for Bahamians.
We also insist that Bahamians must and will on our watch have first crack not only at jobs but at entrepreneurial opportunities that arise from these investments.
We call on Bahamians to invest.
We call on Bahamians to invest in tourism.
As foreshadowed in our Blueprint for Change, we are retooling and resourcing the Tourism Development Corporation to support innovation and entrepreneurship to enhance our product and empower Bahamians.
We believe that Bahamians should be the greatest beneficiaries of investment in The Bahamas.
And ownership in Bahamian industry is something we must not only encourage but actively promote, and that is what we will do.
We emphasize that all of the various concession regimes are available to Bahamians and we want even more maximization of Bahamian participation.
Much has been said about InvestBahamas or BahamasInvest.
As we work with McKinsey on a parallel track to launch this new initiative, our goal is to eliminate the Bahamas Investment Authority backlog, which has already begun.
We plan to establish a digital investor portal prototype.
We plan to continue to revamp the organizational structure for investment approvals and investment promotion.
This includes a reimagining of the BIA’s structure.
And we also plan to conduct a domestic investment process diagnostic that would similarly expedite and reduce the backlog of domestic investment applications.
Further, we are currently working along with McKinsey to review our concessions regime to ensure that we are not only competitive but we are maximizing economic benefit in the best interest of the Bahamian people.
We plan to have a full launch of InvestBahamas…
We want to ensure that as we Rebuild, Restore and Revolutionize that everything that we do is in the best interest of and benefits the Bahamian people.
Tourism Development Corporation
One of the keys to increasing Bahamian ownership and wealth is to deepen our stake in the tourism sector at all levels.
The Tourism Development Corporation will provide support for tourism entrepreneurs that will strengthen their economic viability and grow the Bahamian economy.
We believe that the TDC should serve as a lifeline to tourism entrepreneurs.
We do this through creating partnerships and establishing linkages resulting in product enhancement and business development that ensures mutually sustained economic growth.
Through the TDC we intend to create a Tourism Business Registry on each island.
We propose maintaining ongoing Client Training Workshops on each island in different sectors.
We want to establish an Entrepreneurial Incubation Center in the eastern portion of Bay Street as I mentioned earlier.
The TDC would also establish a tour and excursion help desk at the cruise port to drive visitors to the incubation center
And we intend to create a registry of hotel hospitality professionals who have experience at the management level who may have been displaced and we will actively seek to match these individuals with the many new investors coming to our shores.
The TDC would also establish the framework for concessions to businesses who purchase locally produced goods in keeping with our mandate for economic development.
We will also seek to leverage the data from the Health Visa Program to ensure that the prior knowledge of visitor arrivals is maximized and businesses, particularly on our Family Islands, are connected in win-win ways with visitors.
Madame Speaker, though we have only been in office for six months, we have been hard at work.
There is much more work to be done in this place and outside this place.
We are moving methodically and diligently to restore our economy and bring about relief for the Bahamian people.
We intend to balance the work of the legislature with the work of the executive and fulfill our commitments.
We look forward to even more announcements of our progress in the near future. And we plan to have much more to say in the substantive budget debate in the coming months.
I say a special thank you to Mrs. Latia Duncombe and all of the hardworking people of Team Tourism, Dr. Kenneth Romer and the aviation sector, and Mrs. Phylicia Hanna and the energetic team at the Bahamas Investment Authority.
I want to say to the people of Exuma that you should understand that you are my priority.
In our town meeting recently I outlined the many opportunities coming your way.
We will continue to do that on a quarterly basis.
If I don’t see you this weekend, I assure you that I will see at the upcoming National Family Island Regatta April 20–23.
But I assure you Exuma, I am working for you and the times that you don’t see me are the times that I am missing you and loving you the most.
With that I rest.
May God bless the beloved people of the Exumas and Ragged Island.
And may God bless the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.
