By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

A Cabinet Minister yesterday warned it would be "an act of cruelty and neglect" to allow the Grand Lucayan to become another Royal Oasis, with Freeport's air arrivals down 56 percent in two years.

Dionisio D'Aguilar, minister of tourism and aviation, while backing the Government guarantee for the Grand Lucayan's purchase, said total visitors arrivals to Grand Bahama have seen a "steep drop-off" of just over 36 percent between 2015 and 2017.

"From 4,000 rooms in 2002, I'm advised that the island today has an inventory of just 1,678 rooms. We are talking about a 58 per cent decline in the physical inventory of Grand Bahama. We need more hotel rooms on the island. Grand Bahama needs this government's intervention and we will not fail Grand Bahama," said Mr D'Aguilar.

"In 2015 the overall visitor arrivals, both air and sea, reached a high of 964,308. Two years later, in 2017, those numbers had declined to 614,570, a steep drop off of almost 350,000 visitors or a staggering 36.3 per cent decline.

"If one were to look at just air arrivals in 2015, the island enjoyed air arrivals of almost 160,000. By 2017, that number had dropped precipitously to 70,692, a decline by more than half or a whopping 56 per cent in two short years."

Mr D'Aguilar said the decline was directly related to the closure of two of the Grand Lucayan properties, and the drastic decrease in hotel rooms. 'We simply cannot remain on the sidelines," he said.

"For the first six months of 2018, air arrivals were consistent with 2017 but, thankfully, there was a 26,000 or 7 percent improvement in cruise passengers mostly due to new and now daily ferry services from South Florida, and the introduction by the Ministry of Tourism of new incentives which now pay the ferry operators based on the number of passengers they bring and rewards them even more if those passengers chose to stop over and spend the night in Freeport.

"There is a significant improvement in passengers coming to Freeport, and we have now focused our incentives in having more of those passengers to get off the ship and spend a few nights in Freeport."

Mr D'Aguilar said that despite the Government's track record in managing hotel properties, "the situation is so critical that the Government must intervene in the national interest".

"The Grand Lucayan is a case in point. This is not just about a hotel and its employees, nor is it just about an island. This is about the prosperity of an entire nation. It would be an act of cruelty and neglect for the Government to stand by and let the Grand Lucayan, a prime hotel property go the way of the Royal Oasis," he added.s1

That property sustained severe damage in 2004 following Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne. Its subsequent closure resulted in the loss of more than 1,500 jobs in Freeport, and also affected many nearby businesses, including the International Bazaar and the Straw Market.