Opposition Leader Michael Pintard during a sitting of the House of Assembly on May 1, 2024. Photo: Dante Carrer/Tribune Staff
By DENISE MAYCOCK
Tribune Freeport Reporter
dmaycock@tribunemedia.net
FREE National Movement leader Michael Pintard said revenue from tourism is falling despite increasing numbers of tourists.
“I wanted to raise this issue because I keep hearing the chest-beating and the desk bamming, but how is it possible that the numbers keep going up but the revenue that trickles into society continues to decline?” he said during his contribution to the budget debate in the House of Assembly yesterday. “We continue to miss our numbers.”
Mr Pintard said economic growth at 5.5 percent was projected in May 2023, and “record-shattering” visitor arrivals were announced in December 2023.
However, he said by December 2023, the government had reduced the economic growth forecast to 1.1 per cent.
“Now,” he said, “we see that government revenue will miss the budget targets for this fiscal year by $200-$300m.”
Mr Pintard stressed the impact cruise passengers are having on numbers that paint an unfinished picture.
“In fact, what we do not tell the public when we are boasting about these numbers is the majority of the people that you are counting are cruise passengers, and you seem to be counting persons who come on the ship as opposed to counting for the public those who come off the ship and spend,” he said.
He said because cruise lines are building more attractions on private islands and constructing private ports, less money is being circulated to Bahamians.
He recalled what Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis said last December in an address to the Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association’s annual general meeting. Mr Davis said the country is in the tourism business for economic prosperity.
“It is about how much we earn and how these earnings are distributed,” Mr Davis said.
Mr Pintard said the increase in visitor arrivals is not producing the expected benefits for Bahamians.
He noted that according to Central Bank statistics, the record-setting increase in visitor arrivals in 2023 came from cruise passengers who spent less than $75 per person.
“The average stopover visitor who spends 28 times more than the average cruise passenger, according to the Central Bank, did not grow by one new visitor,” Mr Pintard said.
“To reiterate the point again, Madam Speaker, all of the growth that we have been celebrating is coming from cruise passengers that spend less than $75 per person. Those visitors that spend more than $2000 per person did not grow at all!
“There is now incontrovertible evidence that what is really happening is that visitors that used to fly to The Bahamas and stay in our resorts are now choosing to cruise to The Bahamas rather than flying to the Bahamas —that’s why pilots are also concerned.
“We are substituting visitors who spend less than $75 per person for visitors who used to spend more than $2000 per person. That is a large part of the reason that our stopover visitors did not grow.”
Mr Pintard said over the past 20 years, stopover visitors from Florida declined.
“The reason is because Floridians are choosing to cruise to The Bahamas and often to the private islands,” he said. “This is also happening for other states along the eastern seaboard, the main source of the country’s tourists.”
“Remember, Madam Speaker, we are in the business of counting cruise passengers, not cruise visitors. Cruise passengers are those that board their ships in the United States. Cruise visitors are those that get off the ships and contribute to the economy of The Bahamas. That’s what we should be aiming for.”
Mr Pintard noted that in 2023, two million more cruise passengers were docked at private islands of cruise companies than in Nassau.
He noted that fewer than 1,000 Bahamians are employed on private islands compared to the 150,000 workers living in New Providence.
“Still worse, Madam Speaker, millions of cruise passengers that do dock in Nassau and Freeport never leave the ship to set foot on New Providence and Grand Bahama,” he said.
“This government fails to have realistic conversations of what the challenges are. You boast about revenue but yet people are not feeling it, they are hurting.”
Comments
Porcupine 5 months, 1 week ago
Mr. Pintard is exactly right on this. The reasons are many. For one, the cruise ships prefer to keep their passengers on board so that they spend their money with them. The majority of fees and revenue from the cruise ships go directly to the government, never touching the lives of ordinary Bahamians. The number of cruise ship arrivals, not only do not spend the money, but pardon my saying so, are not of the caliber that many other international visitors care for. Say what you wish about that. As well, this and previous governments have focused on Nassau and the cruise ships, not just because of numbers, but because they can get direct and personal benefits from this industry, where they spend most of their Parliamentary time. The Family Islands, long talked about as being the saving grace for Bahamas tourism and revenue, have been abjectly neglected. Neglected to the point where we cannot even provide the basic services such as water, electricity and connectivity, for ourselves, let alone provide for any number of guests. Further, once we do attract guests to the Family Islands, the collapse of infrastructure leads to poor guest experiences which result in detrimental and damaging guest comments and reviews. This has happened recently on a number of Family Islands. The Family Islands have been utterly ignored, despite all the bullshite talk from the politicians. It is already exponentially more costly to do business in the Family Islands than in Nassau. Factor in additional shipping costs, labour costs, travel time for Nassau-centric services. On top of that, any business that wants to provide the basic services for their guests must invest in electrical generators. fresh water back up, and reliable internet and phone connectivity (not BTC) to make sure their guests are comfortable.
birdiestrachan 5 months, 1 week ago
The hotels are not complaing. MR PINTARD IS A HYPOCRITE WHO CAN BEAT ON DESK MORE THAN HIM AND HIS FOLLOWETS REMEMBER THE WE WANT ANSWER DRAMAR SHOW.
Porcupine 5 months, 1 week ago
Wow birdie, you are declining daily. Making less and less sense. Do you think you are helping your cause? Are you really not aware of how far down this PLP govt is taking this country? Seriously
sheeprunner12 5 months, 1 week ago
Tourism was a good thing for The Bahamas. Since the advent of cruise ships, our product is declining by the year. The worst mistake that the Govt made was to allow cruise ship companies the right to either lease or own these cays. Pintard is right ...... The PLP bragging over tourist numbers without the money reaching the man on the street is very stupid.
Porcupine 5 months, 1 week ago
Absolutely correct!
birdiestrachan 5 months, 1 week ago
Stickey thing the needles are out figments of the imagination delusion and muddled mini wage increase ,school breakfast just to mention two
Porcupine 5 months, 1 week ago
Birdie, You did not mention two. You make no sense whatsoever. None. I think you may be a figment of your own imagination. There are adult education classes in The Bahamas, yes? You would do well to enroll. Perhaps the PLP would pay for your tuition.
TalRussell 5 months, 1 week ago
Happy Meal Cruise Tourism' $$$ have remained invisible when it comes to contributing to the development of the colony's roads, transportation, healthcare and other facilities. -- When it comes to emissions, sewage, they're particularly toxic and harmful to the environment. -- The harsh truth is that there's no fixing whatever is polluted -- Including the popoulaces'. ---Yes?
SP 5 months, 1 week ago
Mr. Pintard is 100% correct with his summation. I warned about this happening right here in the Tribune long before the new cruise port was completed!
I warned that visitor spending would plummet, visitor complaints would skyrocket, and the Bahamas would further decline in the ranks of tourism in the region.
The number one reason for this decline is due to increasing % of visitor dissatisfaction with the increasing volume of visitors that ALL complain of "NOT ENOUGH TO DO IN THE BAHAMAS"
This has been THE NUMBER ONE statistically recorded complaint in the Bahamas since 1980, and the problem has snowballed negatively ever since.
BOTH PLP and FNM are equally guilty of failing to address the number one short fall in the nations top industry FOR DECADES!
Without the proper resort entertainment infrastructure, it is impossible to facilitate "SPEND" of disposable income of tourists. They bring money to spend on vacations but find nothing to spend that money on, which results in an unhappy guest who fells like he wasted his time and money going to destination.
Mr. Pintard is well aware of this fact, however, he cannot mention it because the FNM have been equally as lousy as the PLP in addressing the issue.
How they can be so stupidly blind and ignorant as not to learn from regional competitors including the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and Disney Florida is an uncomprehendingly mind-bogging mystery!
Both governments have unquestionably failed the Bahamian people with the most simple tasks, proving neither are even remotely capable of managing an ant farm!.
The Bahamian people need to take 10 minutes to study the many, many, many failures of both PLP and FNM and WAKE UP and vote them both OUT OF OUR LIVES!!
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