By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

STRAW vendors at the Port Lucaya Marketplace said the situation is dire there and the opening of the Grand Lucayan resort is their only hope of survival.

“We need this hotel to hurry up and open up,” lamented one straw vendor who gave her name as Ernestine. “There are hardly any tourists around here. We are all set up looking pretty, but there is nothing happening in the Straw Market – we need something to happen for us. We have been struggling too long.”

Although a boat was in port yesterday, the vendors said not many passengers are being taken to the marketplace.

Vendor Sylvia Major said the closure of the hotel and beach access are major factors.

“It has been rough. We saw four people all day and not one taxi has been here all day,” she said.

“We don’t have a next boat they say until Thursday, but we just come out to see if we going to make anything.”

Although rent has been reduced by 50 percent, Ms Major said they are not earning enough to pay the fee.

“We paying more rent than what we making,” she said. “They went down on the rent to 50 percent, but it is still rough when there are no tourists.”

The vendor of 20 years said that more needs to be done to promote the area to visitors.

Another straw vendor, identified as Terah, said the taxicab drivers are taking the tourists elsewhere.

She believes that the lack of entertainment is one reason the area is no longer attracting visitors, particularly cruise passengers.

“It is hard to get the taxis up here when the boat comes in because the majority of the people go down to Taino Beach. There is no entertainment in PLM (anymore) to attract the people,” she said.

“Today is a boat day, and so far, we have seen one taxi with three people all day.”

The vendor said that they depend on the hotel for their livelihood.

“When the hotel was open it was 100 percent better; there used to be a flow of tourists in and out of Port Lucaya. But, now, we are just here praying to make a sale,” she said.

Vendors said they are selling their merchandise at rock bottom prices just to take home something.

Pamela Flowers made only $10 in the past four days. “I was coming for three days without making a dollar,” she said. “I came out around 8.30am and it’s now 2pm, and I only made $10 today.

“There is nothing at Port Lucaya to attract visitors when they come up here. There are no attractions, and the hotel is closed.”

Ms Flowers earned on average around $40 to $50 and even sometimes $100 a day when the hotel was open.

Vendor Daphne Nixon said her faith is keeping her going.

“Today is one of those days where your faith has come into action,” she said.

“We had one or two persons walk through today, and what you find is everybody is trying to gravitate to them to pull them in the store to make a sale.”

Ms Nixon is hopeful that better days are coming. “I believe it is going to get better, but today is just not one of those days. Yesterday, I saw nothing, and again today, but we keeping hopeful that something is going to come.”

Tourism Minister Chester Cooper was in Grand Bahama last week and said that negotiations concerning the sale of the Grand Lucayan are a top priority for the new Davis administration.

While Mr Cooper was at the hotel last Thursday to meet with the Lucayan Renewal Holdings and the Ministry of Tourism staff at Port Lucaya, vendors said he did not stop by to visit with them.

“So, we need a representative to come around to the PL area to see what is going on. We need live entertainment out here to attract visitors.

“I been out here since I was 14 years old and this is the worst,” one vendor said.