The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A Royal Caribbean executive yesterday said it "anticipates no delay" or negative impact to the $300m Grand Lucayan redevelopment as a result of the coronavirus fall-out.

Russell Benford, the cruise line's vice-president of government relations for the Americas, told Tribune Business that its Holistica joint venture with ITM Group was "very well capitalised" and had all the necessary resources to begin the two-year construction process on time later this summer.

Addressing fears that the continued stock market collapse, which saw Royal Caribbean's share price plummet a further 31.76 percent to just over $30 in yesterday's trading, and the huge decline in cruise industry business would undermine the Grand Lucayan project, Mr Benford said: "Right now we don't anticipate any delay.

"That project is a joint venture. We're both diverse companies. Holistica is development company as well and is very well capitalised, so I think we have the resources in place to get the project started. It's a two-year project, with a lot of planning and demolition on the front end. The project is scheduled to move on as planned."

Mr Benford said the Royal Caribbean/ITM joint venture was focused on developing a destination product in Freeport that will provide them with "a competitive advantage" even though the Grand Lucayan will be converted into "a shared use resort" where the passengers of rival cruise lines can also stay.

"We look for cost savings in a lot of places," he added, "and try to make sure we're efficient, but we have to make sure we're delivering a destination in a manner that gives us a competitive advantage.

"The Grand Lucayan is going to be turned into a shared use resort where every cruise line will bring its guests. This also involves airlift, so we want to make sure in 2022 that this project is up and running."

The Heads of Agreement for the Grand Lucayan and Freeport Harbour redevelopment was signed just last week before the Covid-19 outbreak worsened and was declared a pandemic. It has taken a heavy toll on the cruise line industry both in terms of share prices and significant loss of business as passengers cancel voyages in a bid to avoid infection.

Royal Caribbean last year brought 1.4m passengers to The Bahamas, and is aiming to increase this to 1.6m by 2022. Mr Benford yesterday said this target remained achievable despite the near-term impact of Covid-19 and the uncertainty over how long it will last, and how widespread the pandemic will become.

"We're projecting 1.6m by 2022," he disclosed. "At the minute this [the coronavirus] is an interruption but we feel pretty confident we will hit those numbers. The cruise industry is going to grow, the number of cruise guests in The Bahamas is going to continue to grow, and the number of guests being brought to Nassau is going to grow.

"I think the outlook for The Bahamas is really good in terms of cruise. It is our number one destination in terms of volume. We have Coco Cay located in The Bahamas, which is our number one destination in terms of guest satisfaction.

"The Bahamas is our second home, and that's why we continue to bring guests and are looking for opportunities to develop new products and add to the product mix. I think The Bahamas is really the epicentre of the cruise business."