1. travel
2. tourist destinations
3. caribbean

10
THE FREEPORT NEWS
Thursday, May 7, 2015
Smith: GB experiencing the most
severe economic downturn in decades
Former Ambassador C. A.
Smith spoke candidly on the way
forward, in his opinion, for
Grand Bahama, during his presentation to Rotarians of the
Freeport Rotary Club on Tuesday, May 5.
Following is Smith’s speech in
its entirety.
“President Clifford, distinguished head table guests, members of the press, ladies of the
gentlemen. In an address to the
Grand Bahama Chamber of
Commerce a year ago, attorney
Carey Leonard warned of two
impending category five storms
that would hit the economic life
of Freeport in 2015.
As predicted, ‘Hurricane’ VAT
a category five storm, hit in January resulting in a dramatic increase in the cost to live and to
do business here.
If the government fails to extend the property tax, the business license fees provisions of
the Hawksbill Creek Agreement,
an even higher category storm
will hit in August. But If we are
to avoid this storm we must take
immediate corrective actions.
We must batten down the hatch
and we must begin a conversation with the relevant authorities
to lessen the impact of this impending storm.
Freeport Today
Our island, Freeport and
Grand Bahama, is experiencing
the most severe economic
downturn in decades. The
tourism industry is in crisis.
Available hotel rooms are down,
total visitor count is down, stop
over visitors are down, and
hotel and service workers have
to leave Freeport to seek opportunities elsewhere.
Thousands of hotel rooms have
been taken out of service over
the last two decades, and the remaining ones are tired, rundown
and in urgent need of repair and
upgrade. To use a medical term
the tourism industry in Grand
Bahama is on life support. Urban
decay is obvious throughout the
downtown and the residential
communities. Unemployment
stands at an all-time high of 18.6
percent and climbing. Investment in the industrial sector is
non- existent. Apart from upgrades and expansion to existing
industrial plants, no new investment was made in the industrial
sector since Sands Brewery
opened in early 2008.
Land sales, home construction
and property development is at a
standstill and has been so for
decades. The truth is the magic
has vanished and if we are to recapture the magic and regain the
promise of the vision originally
anticipated in the 1955 Agreement, we need the proverbial
Midas touch.
Ladies and gentlemen it is time
to change this narrative. In spite
of this gloomy reality all is not
lost, but urgent radical surgery is
the Agreement there have been
too many periods of strained relationships between these two
parties. Businesses cannot grow
and prosper in an environment of
uncertainty, and Freeport businesses have had unusually long
periods of uncertainty while
waiting Immigration and Customs decisions from successive
administrations. The time has
come for an ongoing deep level
of trust to exist between the government, the port and its licensees.
C. A. Smith
Former Ambassador
necessary to save the patient and
get us on the road to economic
recovery.
The future success of Freeport
requires dynamic, creative, resourceful, knowledgeable and
visionary leadership at the Grand
Bahama Port Authority Ltd. This
proactive developmental minded
leadership must be capable of
creating an environment that
capitalizes on Freeport’s unique
characteristics and of inspiring
confidence in the unlimited economic potential and possibilities
that Freeport offers. Sadly, the
present leadership has shown
that it is deficient in these characteristics. The performance of
the present leadership in sustaining economic development is
unremarkable and leaves much
to be desired. They will have
great difficulty in pointing to a
single significant investment
brought to Freeport under their
watch. It is now time for new
ownership and new leadership at
the Grand Bahama Port Authority Ltd.
I strongly suggest that the government use this opportunity and
its position of power to assist in
identifying and encouraging new
dynamic ownership and professional management to guide,
promote and develop this important national asset.
The Tourism Product
As stated earlier the tourism
sector on Grand Bahama is in
crisis. It is yet to rebound to pre2000 days when we had thousands of high quality rooms
available in West End and
Freeport. The plant is deteriorating. Not one new hotel has been
built in the last 20 years, and facilities at the Grand Lucayan and
Memories are attracting down
market clientele. If you remove
Medical Facility
Ladies and gentlemen.
Successive governments have
recognized the need for the construction of a regional medical
facility on Grand Bahama to ac(Continued on Page 13)
the subsidy the industry receives
annually, these hotels would be
closed tomorrow. The way forward is to identify and engage a
world leader in the resort and
tourist industry and provide them
with all the incentives required
to develop a multi-range high
quality tourism product. Lucaya
must be rebranded as a world
class tourist destination.
Marketing
Mr. President
We live in a highly competitive
world where tax free and or economic zones abound all over the
globe. If we are to compete successfully in this highly competitive
environment,
the
government, the GBPA and its licensees must be prepared to invest significant sums of
marketing dollars on an ongoing
basis to market the economic
benefits of investing in Freeport.
No real effort has been made to
market Freeport as a tax free
zone. The way forward requires
that this must change.
I support the expressed view
that establishing an adequately
funded professionally staffed
marketing entity with the mandate to promote Freeport to carefully targeted corporations and
businesses across the globe as
the ideal Free Trade Zone in
which to locate businesses is key
to the revitalization of Freeport.
Branding Freeport as the Western Hemisphere’s industrial and
commercial business destination;
the Dubai of the west will assist
in our recovery efforts.
Government Relations
In order for Freeport to succeed, the relationship between
the GOB and the GBPA must at
all times be constructive and collaborative. Throughout the life of
CAREER OPPORTUNITY
AUDIO VISUAL COMPANY
Grand Lucayan is seeking an AUDIO VISUAL COMPANY to provide equipment and
services for internal and external clients. Company must have experience from meeting set
ups to special events. Company must possess the following criteria but not limited to:
Must have knowledge of conventions and services:
• Trade Shows
• Meetings
• Weddings,
• Special events
Knowledge, Skills & Abilities
• Must possess their own inventory to facilitate the above
• Certified staff
• Staff must meet daily or when scheduled for various conventions meetings
• Must possess and maintain a highly functional inventory
• Company must have structure consistent with competitive local pricing and Audio &
Visual industry standards
• Company must be willing to service and function in house system if and when needed
• Company must provide a professional report of its services and equipment available
along with its equipment prices
• Must be able to effectively communicate its equipment inventory and pricing to customer
• Adhere to a professional grooming standard and dress code
• Company will need to provide list of all employees
Only passionate, self motivated professionals need apply to:
Immigration
Immigration can and should be
used as an incentive tool to development. Used appropriately
this tool could assist in ensuring
that Freeport achieves its full
economic potential.
There are too many instances in
the memory of Freeporters
where immigration has been
used as a tool to discourage
rather than encourage development. Canada, The United States
and a number of CARICOM
countries maintain a progressive
open door immigration policy,
which attracts foreign direct investment and highly skilled and
well qualified professionals to
the economic advantage of the
receiving state
Working toward this goal requires a fundamental shift in
government policy directive toward foreign investment in
Freeport and a seismic shift in
Bahamian attitude toward skilled
foreign employees.
Both The Ingraham and The
Christie administrations have
touted the red carpet treatment
for foreign direct investment but
they both have failed to implement this pledge. They were either unable or unwilling to
summon the necessary political
will to implement this sensible
developmental policy.
Director of Human Resources
Grand Lucayan Bahamas
P.O. Box F-42500
Freeport, Grand Bahama
Email: [email protected]
On or before May 15th, 2015
Qualified Bahamians only need apply
Ph: (242) 352-6682