Photo: Della Bridgewater
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Nassau, Bahamas - The
following are remarks made at the opening of the Caribbean Hotel
Tourism Association Marketplace Opening Ceremony on January 22nd, 2012
by the Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, the Rt Hon
Hubert A. Ingraham:
Mr. Alec Sanguinetti,
Director General & CEO of CHTA;
Mr. Josef Forstmayr,
CHTA President;
Mr. Richard
Doumeng, CHTA President Elect;
Ministers of
Tourism from throughout the region;
Sen. Hon. Richard
Skerritt, Chairman of Caribbean Tourism Organization;
Mr. Hugh Riley,
Secretary General of Caribbean Tourism Organization;
Esteemed Delegates;
Members of
the Press;
Ladies and
Gentlemen;
Good Evening:
It
is my great pleasure to welcome you back to The Bahamas, and to Nassau
and Paradise Island. I trust that by now my greeting is simply
the formal expression of the warm reception and careful attention you
have already experienced. We are always happy to embrace opportunities
that gather colleagues and partners from throughout the region and around
the world in The Bahamas.
2012
is a year of notable anniversaries for the tourism sector. It is the
50th anniversary of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association,
and I congratulate you as you celebrate this significant milestone.
Our
Bahamas Hotel Association, soon to be formally named the Bahamas Hotel
and Tourism Association, is one of the founding members of the original
Caribbean Hotel Association. It celebrates its 60th anniversary
this year.
This
year is also the 30th anniversary of Caribbean Marketplace. I
am reminded that our very own George Myers was instrumental in its creation,
hosting, along with our Ministry of Tourism, a number of the early Marketplace
events.
At
this year’s Marketplace, I am advised that you expect one of the best
turnouts ever of buyers and sellers. This includes some 679 representatives
of ‘supplier’ companies: hotels, attractions, destination management
companies, tourism groups and transportation companies.
It
also includes 331 individuals representing buyers: tour operators, wholesalers
and online intermediaries. These are encouraging numbers.
And, of course, we are always happy to have representatives from the
regional and international press in attendance.
Ladies and
Gentlemen:
We
begin 2012 with the hope that this year will mark a distinct point of
recovery and return to sustained growth for tourism in our region.
We
believe that early signs of improvement are evident. In The Bahamas,
we saw a robust uptick in arrivals since November last. By a number
of measures, this past December was particularly good for the 14 major
Nassau and Paradise Island hotels.
For
the second year in a row since the Great Recession room occupancies,
average daily rates and room rates were up last year. Perhaps
most encouraging has been that visitors are spending longer periods
with us and reporting improved levels of customer satisfaction.
Some
of this is the result, we believe, of aggressive action to revamp our
product during the slowdown so as to be better prepared to benefit from
the recovery as it occurs.
Here
in The Bahamas we are focused upon ensuring our readiness for the inevitable
global economic recovery as it occurs. Our economy is therefore
the beneficiary of the most comprehensive upgrade and expansion in our
history.
I
am sure that upon arrival many of you took note of the major redevelopment
which is underway at the Lynden Pindling International Airport – part
of a $410 million three-phased upgrade and expansion project.
The first phase, a new US Departure Terminal, was completed and opened
last March. The second phase is moving toward an on-schedule completion
in October. The complete redevelopment should be fully open and
operational by December, 2013.
Those
of you departing Nassau for a US destination will experience firsthand
what might arguably be described as the most visitor-friendly terminal
in the region.
On
your travels from the airport to your hotel, I am sure you also noted
rather extensive road works underway. The four-lane Airport Gateway
together with other road construction will make travel from the airport
to our tourism centres in Cable Beach and here on Paradise Island more
pleasant.
The
new Gateway will reduce overall traffic congestion on this small and
increasingly heavily populated city. Great care is being taken
to preserve and enhance the landscape, including vistas to wetlands
and, of course, to the sea.
Other
infrastructural developments are being undertaken simultaneously with
our road works. This includes the installation of underground
utility corridors meant to significantly improve the quality and reliability
of critical utilities – water, electricity and communications. It
is our goal to make New Providence Island, the seat of our capital city,
a modern, efficient, environmentally friendly place in which to live,
work and enjoy recreation.
Our
infrastructural improvement campaign has had a double benefit. We are
putting in place critical infrastructure that will have long term value.
Secondly, we are creating employment and business opportunities during
recessionary times. This has off-set some of the fall-off in private
sector activity.
Last
year we completed a lengthy and sometimes difficult privatisation of
the government-owned telecommunications monopoly. We are already
experiencing some of the enhanced services which are expected as a result
of access to improved technologies and larger economies of scale.
Investment
has not been restricted to the public sector during this difficult economic
period. Many of you have seen the mega Baha Mar resort redevelopment
underway in Cable Beach. The transformation of Cable Beach promises
to add another dimension to what we have to offer visitors to our island
beginning in 2014.
Additional
public and private sector investments are coming together to spur on
the revitalization of our historic City of Nassau. Our harbour
has been deepened facilitating the berthing in Nassau harbour of the
largest passenger cruise ships travelling the seas today.
It
is important to note that the $52 million dredging project was repaid
from incremental cruise passenger taxes in just two years. And,
the incremental spending by new cruise passengers alone exceeds $40
million per year.
Nassau’s
historic Straw Market, destroyed by fire in 2001, was rebuilt and reopened
just last month. And the dredging of our harbour produced the
material needed to expand cargo port facilities at Arawak Cay just outside
our city centre. The removal of commercial cargo traffic from
the city will further enhance the ambiance of Nassau.
And
so, while not wishing to distract you from important business opportunities
at this Marketplace, I do want to encourage you to take some time to
visit and shop in our new Straw Market. We are proud of it and
believe that you will find there excellent examples of authentically-Bahamian
craft.
This
essential work in the downtown area is being accomplished through strong
partnership between the public and private sectors. We have a
renewed appreciation for this partnership; and the trend of rebranding
hotel associations as hotel and tourism associations hints at a new-found
appreciation for wider partnerships beyond hotels and throughout the
region.
Our
private-public sector collaboration is further reflected in the new
Tourism Centre scheduled to be formally opened in short order.
It will house both the Ministry of Tourism & Aviation and a number
of private sector organizations (Promotion Boards, Hotel Employers Association)
with which the Ministry of Tourism works so closely on a regular basis.
We
are undertaking additional infrastructural developments around our Family
of Islands to ensure that each of our varied destinations is well-positioned
to benefit from the turn-around in the global economy as it occurs.
Electricity
and water supplies have been upgraded in several of our islands notably
in Abaco, Bimini, Harbour Island, Eleuthera, and Long Island.
A new airport terminal in Abaco, replacement bridges in Andros and the
repair and upgrade of docks and roads are all being undertaken in our
Family Islands including restoration work following the damage suffered
as a result of Hurricane Irene last year.
We
continue to see the investment in people and the continued building
of relationships as the key to sustained growth. In The Bahamas,
we have placed considerable emphasis on improving the visitor’s experience
through investing in Bahamians.
Two
of the enduring programs of the Ministry of Tourism – the BahamaHost
training program for the tourism industry and the People-to-People cultural
exchange program for visitors – have been tremendously improved.
These
programs provide avenues through which our guests are touched on a personal
level, increasing the emotional bond with our country and encouraging
them to continue to recommend a Bahamas experience to their friends
and relatives.
Ladies and
Gentlemen:
I
would like to thank the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association, the
Ministry of Tourism and Aviation, the Bahamas Hotel Association, the
Promotion Boards and Atlantis for organizing what promises to be a first-class
event conducive of a successful buying and selling environment.
I
extend every best wish for a successful Marketplace. We look forward
to seeing the region reap substantial rewards through the hard work
you will do here and in the year ahead.
I
should like to close by thanking the Hon. Vincent Vanderpool Wallace
for his extraordinary hard work, creativity and energy. We are
most grateful to him.
Again,
welcome back to The Bahamas. I thank you. Good evening.
