The Tribune

By Natario Mckenzie

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

Bahamian ownership of small hotels on Andros has dropped 36 per cent due to an increasing trend of foreign buyouts, a Ministry of Tourism executive said yesterday.

Peter Douglas, manager for sustainable tourism development on Andros, and executive director of the Andros Conservancy and Trust Bahamas, said many foreign investors were seeing value in the small resort business.

“There were 35 to 37 small resorts when we did the last count on the island. Of those small resorts, 28 were owned by Androsians. I did the count the other day and we are down to less than 18,” said Mr Douglas.

“What has happened in South Andros is you had a major buy out of the small fishing resorts by foreign investors. There were several reasons for that.

“The people who owned them were older Bahamians and had no succession plan in place, and so foreigners bought them out because they knew the value, and the other thing is poor business practices; not staying on top of changes in the industry and looking at the new markets that were emerging.”

Mr Douglas, addressing the fourth annual Andros Business Outlook in Nichols Town, added: “After the 2008 recession a lot of businesses went belly up and couldn’t take the hit, so it was cheaper to sell out than try to rebuild.

“Also, when the markets shift and you are not out there feeling those trends, you get lost. In a small resort business all you need is one bad season and you have to go belly up.”

Mr Douglas also stressed the need for greater focus on the protection of the Bahamas’ marine environment, lamenting that there has been “easily” a 20-fold increase in he amount of trash, particularly plastics, in the water.

“Our beaches are being inundated with garbage and our visitors are complaining about it from Abaco to Inagua,” he said.

“It’s impacting the marine environment. It’s starting to degrade. Where we can add value to our tourism product is to take care of our natural resources. The amount of plastics in our water stream has increased 20-fold over the last five to 10 years, easily. It is having a significant impact.”

Mr Douglas added: “We have to wake up and deal with this issue because nowadays, if people have that experience, they take to the Internet. Back in the day you could have done some damage control.

“That’s what’s doing us in. We’re trying to getting on top of it. From a Ministry standpoint we are good at getting out to the world but we need to reach our people and get our product in line.”