By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Perry Christie said yesterday that he expects the Sunwing Travel Group to bring more than 100,000 visitors a year to Grand Bahama, while acknowledging that the Government spends far too much annually in subsidising that island’s tourism industry.

“I believe that this investment is a meaningful one,” Mr Christie said. “The company takes 300,000 visitors a year to Cuba and 100,000 a year to Jamaica. If they could bring 100,0000 I would be satisfied. I expect them to do even more than that.

“It’s a company that is a subsidiary of the largest tour company in the world, TUI in Germany. It is Canada-based, they have their own 737-800 aircraft, and they promote their own business, so they are complete. When they make a commitment to promote a destination it’s a real commitment.”

Last week, Mr Christie announced that Letters of Intent and a Memoranda of Understanding were signed between the Government, Hutchison Whampoa and the Canadian-based Sunwing.

He said some 1,000 new permanent jobs and hundreds of construction jobs will be created in Grand Bahama as a result of this development.

Yesterday, Mr Christie added: “On top of that we have examined the amount of money that we spend annually in Grand Bahama and it’s a lot of money that we spend annually.

“We have tried to cut that down because we have a good operator, and in Hutchison and the Government we are working in tandem and trying to move towards a new casino operator with new offerings in the casino, making a more integrated approach to the resort business.”

Mr Christie said: “We have some interesting developments going on in the islands. We have to complete the operations on Bimini, we have to complete all of the requirements on Grand Bahama to see that the jobs are actually created.

“We have Cat Island on the front burner, Eleuthera on the front burner going on, so jobs are we being created in those areas. We want to go back to my whole concept of the anchor properties, where you are able to create anew economies in the islands, causing people to be able to find jobs there as opposed to coming to Nassau to look for jobs.

“I’m hoping in the next three-four years we are going to have a very dynamic impact on the Family Islands moving forward, and that really is going to be a healthier kind of economy because, hopefully, it’s going to be a sustainable kind of development and sustainable jobs, much different to the traditional hotels. It’s going to be the kind of development where people have ownership in it.”