The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Bahamas Speed Week’s investors are hoping the 2013 version will finally deliver a return on their “multiple six-figures” investment, its president yesterday disclosing that the 2012 event failed to reach the ‘break even’ target despite injecting more than $500,000 into the local economy.

Jimmy Lowe, its president, told Tribune Business that Speed Week’s three principals had “not taken out a penny” from the event, and paid all their expenses from their own pockets, as they enter the third year of a five-year plan to build it into a profitable, sustainable event.

Mr Lowe said the 2012 Speed Week had generated 800 valuable room nights for the hotel industry at a relatively quiet time in the tourism calendar, with an estimated 2,000-3,000 persons attending the various events.

He admitted, though, that the turnout from Bahamians had been disappointing, and conceded that Speed Week had failed to capture their imagination.

Mr Lowe said many Bahamians viewed the event as “a load of rich people running around in high-priced cars”, something that did not connect with them.

And Speed Week’s principals had received feedback that Bahamians wanted to see a “NASCAR” type spectacle, with spectacular accidents and crashes - in other words, competitive racing.

Mr Lowe said Speed Week was looking to introduce more “competitive components” in 2013, building on the go-karting from this year. He added that organisers were in discussions with other ‘racing series’ interested in staging events in the Bahamas - something that would require a “proper race track”.

“The basic economic impact was just over $500,000, and that went to local vendors and things that we shopped at home for rather than abroad,” Mr Lowe told Tribune Business of the 2012 event’s total economic impact.

“We obtained tenting from a local vendor, rather than go to the US, and tried to get as much done with local vendors as possible.

“All of that sum was spent locally with the hotels, catering and manual labour for set-up and break down of the event. That was direct monies spent locally, and it put quite a few people to work.”

Mr Lowe added that Speed Week “by and large made a good impact on people here”, generating 800 hotel room nights on top of the estimated $500,000 direct economic impact.

Expressing hope that the 2013 event, scheduled for December 4-8, would be bigger than last year’s version, Mr Lowe said Speed Week promotional events would start earlier this time around.

He explained that the inaugural event, in 2011, had “a late start” due to the time required to finalise financing and sign the required agreements with the Government.

Speed Week was only launched in July 2011, and Mr Lowe said the same timescale was imposed last year due to the May 2012 general election.

“Because of the election, everything was on hold, so we got a late start in July/August. With stability in government for the next five years, hopefully we will get the green light to go forward and start earlier, which will give us three-four months more planning time,” the Speed Week president told Tribune Business.

Mr Lowe added that Speed Week 2012 had failed to live up to expectations financially, although he pointed out that losses were not unexpected for events in the start-up/building stage.

“It came out where we still lost some money,” he said, declining to detail the scale of the losses. “We had hoped to come close to break even, but we didn’t.

“We had to inject our own money, so we have persons invested in the multiple six-figure numbers. We’re hoping in 2013 we can at least get to break even, and get a few of the invested dollars back.

“It’s all about building,” Mr Lowe told Tribune Business. “It’s a five-year plan, and we’re in year three. So if we can get to break even or a little bit of profitability in 2013, we will be on target going forward.

“For the last two years, the three principals have not taken out a penny. We’ve been working for the Ministry of Tourism gratis for the last few years, not even taking a salary and taking expenses out of our own pockets.

“I think the plan is well thought-out, and in 2013 we will start to see some of that come to fruition. I sure hope so.”

Mr Lowe said Bahamas Speed Week would add more racing, competition components in 2013, building upon the go-karting it brought in last year.

This appears to be an effort to encourage greater Bahamian visitor numbers, Mr Lowe telling Tribune Business: “We didn’t have as many of the general public as we envisioned.”

When asked why, he explained: “People have the opinion that it’s a load of rich people running around in high-priced cars and that does not interest them.

“People love racing. One of my partners was talking to someone locally,and they said they want to see NASCAR - crashes, accidents. That’s what they want to see. The appeal of seeing classic, historical cars is not as big here as it is in other parts of the world.”

Still, Mr Lowe said Bahamas Speed Week was continuing to attract favourable write ups from magazine and Internet publications, and it was “becoming very big” as a fixture in the tourism calendar.

“We’ve had a couple of inquiries from other racing series that want to sit down and talk, and see if there are any synergies,” he added of interest from other events in coming to Nassau.

“If we had a proper race track, whether it be a street track or proper built circuit, because of the quality of the event it would become a local draw.”

Mr Lowe said Bahamas Speed Week, and any racing component, had to remain in the West Bay Street/Arawak Cay area, given that it captured the Fish Fry, plus pristine waters and beaches, all in one - set against the backdrop of the cruise ships and Atlantis.

He added that Speed Week 2012 had attracted between 2,500-3,000 spectators, and said: “It is growing, and is going to be bigger and better. That’s our goal. We’re still optimistic about it for 2013.”