The Tribune

By DANA SMITH

Tribune Staff Reporter

dsmith@tribunemedia.net

THE government is in the process of identifying who will operate the Grand Lucayan Resort’s casino as repairs for the Reef Village begin shortly and negotiations with the Sunwing Travel Group approach completion.

Prime Minister Perry Christie said yesterday that Sunwing, a Canadian subsidiary of Tui – the world’s largest travel company – is set to bring “a significant amount of people” to Freeport, Grand Bahama.

Back in October, major partnership arrangements were signed between the government, Hutchison Whampoa and Sunwing.

Hutchison will renovate and reopen the 503-room Reef Village, which will be leased and operated as a five-star, all-inclusive resort by Blue Diamond Hotels and Resorts, an affiliate of Sunwing.

The resort will create some 1,000 permanent jobs and hundreds of construction jobs – stimulating Grand Bahama’s struggling tourism economy, the Prime Minister had said.

Yesterday he announced that negotiations are complete, and explained that the contractor for repairs is currently being chosen, as is the casino operator.

“The decisions on the repairs are being made,” Mr Christie said. “(And) we are progressing with identifying who the casino operator should be. We are receiving proposals with respect to that.

“We anticipate repairs should begin shortly. We anticipate early in the new year, Sunwing – which has its own fleet of air-craft – they take about 300,000 people a year to Cuba, 100,000 people a year to Jamaica – we believe they are going to bring a significant amount of people to Freeport and we believe they represent the next step forward on the island of Grand Bahama.”