By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Grand Celebration’s three-month departure will “create the perception Grand Bahama is dead”, an ex-minister of tourism yesterday lamenting the “impact player’s” loss.

Obie Wilchcombe told Tribune Business he was “deeply concerned” about the cruise ship’s loss until December 23, warning that it would further harm a Freeport tourism economy already-depressed from the Grand Lucayan’s continued closure.

Backing the Minnis administration’s plan to take partial ownership of Grand Bahama’s ‘anchor property’, Mr Wilchcombe said the island was “anxiously awaiting” action over the Grand Lucayan’s opening and other developments to revive the tourism sector.

He added that the Grand Celebration’s departure, on a three-month mission to assist hurricane relief operations in the southern Caribbean, would deprive Grand Bahama of the very service “that has been carrrying the island for a while”.

“Grand Bahama is in a dire situation as we speak,” Mr Wilchcombe said, pointing out that the Grand Celebration’s loss coincided with the tourism season’s ‘slow period’ when many remaining resorts, such as Club Fortuna, often closed temporarily.

“We’re not seeing any movement at the Grand Lucayan,” the ex-minister added. “We’re in a depressed situation in Grand Bahama, and something has to happen. People are anxiously awaiting a plan from the Government as to how we’re going to get the hotel sector up and going.

“The Government will have to step in with partners to make that [the Grand Lucayan’s re-opening] happen. Through the Hotel Corporation, the Government has to find a way to get that hotel open.

“The Carnival [cruise port] project, the Government has to make that happen because that is job opportunities, that is businesses opening up. It’s a new avenue for the people of Grand Bahama.”

Virtually nothing has been heard from the Minnis administration about the Carnival cruise port project, apart from suggestions that it wants the development relocated closer to Freeport or to Williams Town.

The Prime Minister’s press conference in Freeport last Friday offered nothing new on the Grand Lucayan situation, other than to say the Government was still working and in negotiations with the relevant parties. Kwasi Thompson, minister of state for Grand Bahama, would only tell Tribune Business that talks were “progressing well”.

Many in Freeport, though, believe the island has “hit rock bottom” with the Grand Celebration’s withdrawal, some even describing it as ‘another nail in the coffin’ of the city’s tourism sector.

Dionisio D’Aguilar, Mr Wilchcombe’s successor as minister of tourism, last week told Tribune Business that he was relatively unconcerned about the Grand Celebration situation, pointing out that its departure was temporary and Freeport was already gaining extra cruise ship business as a result of the hurricane-related devastation in the southern Caribbean.

Mr Wilchcombe, though, begged to differ. “We are concerned about the track we’re on because it doesn’t seem progressive,” he told this newspaper.

“That’s [the Grand Celebration] an impact player we’re going to lose for a while. They bring in overnight visitors. That’s the magic with it; two for the price of one. You have cruise passengers becoming overnight visitors. It’s been carrying the island for a while.”

The Grand Celebration brought around 1,700 passengers to Grand Bahama every two days, and the entire spectrum of tourism operators - from taxi drivers and retail/restaurant vendors to tour and excursion providers - will feel the loss of business.

David Wallace, one of the investors in the Pirate’s Cove attraction, estimated to Tribune Business that the Grand Celebration generated between 15-20 per cent of its daily visitors when it was in port.

Mr Wilchcombe, meanwhile, said the Grand Celebration had been “one of the strategies we deployed” in reviving Freeport’s tourism economy following the damage inflicted by Hurricane Matthew in October 2016.

While the hotels had complained about room rates and other issues, the ex-minister said overnighting passengers had generated essential business for the Grand Lucayan and its casino, plus Port Lucaya Marketplace vendors.

Mr Wilchcombe said the Grand Celebration’s loss could impact the 200 rooms that remain open at the Grand Lucayan’s Lighthouse Pointe complex, given that its passengers accounted for a significant percentage of that business.

“It puts it almost to a stop. What else do we have going on in Grand Bahama?” he told Tribune Business of the tourism industry’s condition following the Grand Celebration’s departure.

“Pelican Bay has been a staple, thank God for that, but I foresee some difficulties in Grand Bahama; how it impacts jobs, how it impacts the economy, because it’s giving the perception the island is dead.”