By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Government advisers predicted that Freeport’s workforce could expand by 24 per cent in 10 years via an economic growth plan that featured new industries such as aircraft maintenance and ‘value-added’ logistics.

The Hawksbill Creek Agreement Review Committee, in the report it delivered to the Christie administration last summer, suggested that between 4,900-5,800 jobs could be created within a decade if the Bahamas was to build upon Freeport’s existing economic model.

“The plan estimates that 2,600-2,900 direct jobs can be created over the next 10 years, with another 2,300 indirect and induced jobs as money circulates in the local economy,” the Committee said.

“The estimated job numbers are significant, given that in Grand Bahama there were 4,900 people unemployed in 2013. The 2014 labour force was 21,145 people, which means that adding 4,900-5,800 jobs could increase the labour force by 24 per cent in the long-term.”

The Committee’s plan called for reviving Grand Bahama and Freeport’s struggling tourism industry, plus retaining and enhancing its industrial base while expanding the second home market and maritime industry.

On the tourism front, the Committee said Freeport needed to diversify its product offering via a variety of hotel price points and attractions and activities, coupled with the presence of major resort brands.

It called for a strategy that initially focused on attracting tourism industry investors in the “mid-market, family-friendly, all-inclusive” market, arguing that this would “stabilise the deterioration of assets and improve customer satisfaction rates”.

Then Freeport could diversify its offering into niche sectors, such as eco-tourism and wellness and sports, with a focus on the high-end market in the third and final phase.

Pointing out that tourism is job intensive, the Committee said: “The first few years of the tourism strategy would likely directly generate 90-100 jobs as occupancy increases at Grand Lucayan.

“Over the next five to 10 years, a new high-end tourism development with 200 rooms could generate 300-600 direct jobs.

“Increased tourism spending from attracting additional visitors and improving tourism products could result in $86-$90 million in additional direct expenditures per year in five to 10 years, which could support 1,900-2,000 indirect jobs in the economy.”

When it came to the second home market, the Committee said Grand Bahama could exploit its US proximity and huge amount of undeveloped land to add 500-600 service-based jobs and $13-$14 million in direct spending into its economy per year.

And, urging the Bahamas to capitalise on Freeport’s existing maritime and industrial base, the Committee said expanding the former could create 100-300 jobs within five years.

It pointed out that the Grand Bahama Shipyard had expanded to a $140 million top-line business per annum, and was growing at a rate of 7 per cent every year.

The Committee also urged the Government to establish Grand Bahama as a medical tourism hub, a suggestion that is nothing new. It added that a specialist ‘offshore’ medical facility might create 50-100 construction jobs, and 20-50 permanent jobs serving 200-300 international patients per year.

The Bahamas was then told to emulate the success of Aeroman in El Salvador, and Lufthansa in Puerto Rico, by exploiting Grand Bahama’s US proximity and English-speaking population to establish it as an aircraft maintenance hub.

“Aircraft maintenance would likely create directly 400-500 permanent jobs on Grand Bahama, with the potential to scale to over 1,000 jobs if successful,” the report said.

Finally, the Committee said Freeport could build on the Container Port and Sea Air Business Centre to become a ‘value-added logistics’ centre - something that could create 100-200 jobs, and possibly as many as 500.