By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

Family Island businesses have described 2020 as "a wash" despite their recent re-opening and believe economic conditions will not rebound until mid-2021 at the earliest.

Pedro Rolle, the Exuma Chamber of Commerce's president, told Tribune Business of the recently-relaxed COVID restrictions: “In all honesty it is not a noticeable difference in terms of the economic activity on the island.

"The reason for that is even though the restrictions have been relaxed nothing much has happened because people are not moving about or travelling. The restrictions made very little sense for the average traveller or for the business traveller, that is.

"It’s expensive for people to move in terms of having to get the [COVID-19 PCR] test and all of those other things. Legally they can come, but it makes very little sense from a business point of view to go back and forth, and so there has been no noticeable difference on the island," he added.

"Certain things we lifted as of last Wednesday, but it’s going to take a while and there is no money for people to do things, so I don’t expect we are going to see any noticeable difference economically for quite a few months.

"I think that now until over the next summer we will see increases, and maybe June of next year will give us the opportunity to be back to some sort of normalcy, but I believe that when Sandals Exuma opens and the other hotels open towards the end of the year then you are going to be able to see activity increasing a little bit. I think things will get better as consumer confidence increases bit by bit."

Christopher Cates, owner of the Lumber Shed, South Eleuthera, said: “Our biggest challenge here is that for South Eleuthera, our employment is directly related to the cruise line operations, in particular Half Moon Cay and Princess Cay.

"Princess Cay has been making an effort to get some staff in for cleaning and that kind of stuff. But the majority of those people, they would normally work five or seven days - sometimes they work seven days back-to-back. They haven’t been to work since February. So that really puts a damper on our economy.”

Mr Cates added: “The new money, or the M1 money, coming from outside sources simply isn’t here because the cruise lines are not retaining their staff as they are not operating. They have been closed and really we are just circulating old age pension and National Insurance Board benefits. That is just a drop in the bucket compared to what it takes to keep the economy rolling.”

While Mr Cates said he was “grateful” for the COVID-19 restrictions being lifted, it has not translated into “a great deal of economic activity. We depend solely on cruise lines here.”

"We have no resorts in South Eleuthera and the trickle down of tourists that would normally come to us from Governors Harbour and Harbour Island, they are pretty much in the same predicament," he added.

“This is a multi-faceted thing and I don’t expect us to get anywhere off the ground until the middle of next year. The cruise lines really have to get their act together, and get their approvals, before we can really start to do anything here. Based on what I’m reading I don’t think we will get back up and running until next June possibly."

Joseph Rahming, president of the South Andros Chamber of Commerce, said: “We are concerned about the virus itself. It doesn’t seem like it’s there but if you open up, it may be a situation where we experience it.

"The country doesn’t have the health facilities at this time to assist because it is overcrowded. Health is more important than wealth; you can’t trade that. But I think the schedule of the bonefishing business has picked up, and that’s coming up at the end of October, I’m hearing, and that’s going to be until November, so that’s an economic boost for the island. We’re not afraid of those clientele because they are rich people and rich people don’t really mingle socially.”

Ms Juliet Newbold, general manager of the Andros Island Bonefish Club, said: “At present time we feel OK. It’s not the norm but persons are making the necessary adjustments, and we are wearing our masks and what have you. At present we don’t have any tourists at so business is pretty much shut down still."

David Dean, owner/operator of D and B Bus Services in the Berry Islands, added: “There isn’t much opened on the island, and it isn’t much happening in bus services. We still don’t have a bunch of people coming in.

"So business is still slow and it hasn’t picked up yet. I don’t see much before the end of the year; it may come late. I’m also in the tourism business and that has not picked up. Construction is going well; that’s about the only thing right now."