By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A Bahamian resort entrepreneur yesterday revealed plans to triple his boutique network to “five and six in the long haul” amid hopes that imminent airport upgrades will make “one plus one equal three”.

Ben Simmons, proprietor of the Ocean View and The Other Side properties on Harbour Island and mainland Eleuthera, respectively, told Tribune Business that securing $55m in Saudi financing to kickstart North Eleuthera Airport’s transformation was perfectly timed to coincide with the addition of his third and fourth resorts.

He confirmed that his third property, The Farm, is “ramping up” for a mid-November 2024 “soft” launch as efforts to recruit its 20-strong staff begin and rooms begin “to fill” for the 2025 first quarter with bookings already coming in for events such as weddings.

The Farm, as its name indicates, is targeted at an agri-tourism niche that is relatively new for the Bahamian hospitality industry, but Mr Simmons told this newspaper that “the massive demand” from tourists for such experiences provide “dramatic differentiation” that will allow this nation’s largest industry to “distinguish ourselves” from other Caribbean destinations. 

Arguing that The Bahamas “really needs to hone in” on segments such as edu-tourism (education) as “new areas of growth”, he reiterated: “We compete to be unique.” Mr Simmons, voicing optimism that The Farm will be performing “very well within two to three years”, said he and his team were likely “to catch our breath” before developing a fourth resort, The Current, at a 5.5-acre site he has already acquired.

“We are hoping to launch mid-November with a soft opening and ramp it up in the New Year,” Mr Simmons told Tribune Business of The Farm, which will be completely off-grid at its location on mainland North Eleuthera near his existing Other Side property. “We’re starting to book weddings and things of that nature.”

With the Government on Monday signing an agreement to secure Saudi concessional financing for North Eleuthera airport’s transformation, and construction contracts for the project expected to be executed by the 2024 fourth quarter, Mr Simmons said the anticipated improvements in capacity and passenger experience could not be better timed for his expansion plans.

“If more people are coming to the destination, we will have to keep on building hotel rooms,” he added. “I’m hoping that, if we get this built in the next two to three years, with this project [The Farm] and The Current it will be one plus one equals three.

“We’ll have the hotels, the infrastructure and, hopefully, we’ll have the demand. I think the destination is only going to go from strength to strength. I think The Cove is also in the process of completing a huge renovation, so I think the destination is only going to go from strength to strength.”

Confirming that The Farm will start with 12 guest rooms, and a 20-strong staff that are now being recruited, Mr Simmons said the resort’s energy and produce were also being put in place. “We have 150 chickens that should be arriving this week, the hydroponics are en route and we are just starting to propagate for the season ahead,” he added.

“We have 47 fruit tress we are planting right now in time hopefully for rainy season. We have 47 different fruit trees focusing on guava, avocados, mangos and others.. Solar energy is up. We have got 100 kilowatts (KW) of panels and half a mega watt (MW) of battery back-up, Fingers crossed that we don’t have to run a generator, but we don’t know until we get open and see customer behaviour on the ground.

“We are completely off-grid. We are so far away from infrastructure that there’s no BPL. We’re relying on ground water and are 100 percent off-grid, and it’s just a question of whether we need a back-up generator for a cloudy day. Hopefully not. We’ll see. Our fossil fuel usage, we’re trying to keep that as low as possible.”

Agri-tourism focuses on sustainable practices, plus healthy eating and living, and Mr Simmons told Tribune Business: “I think there’s a massive demand for it. We compete to be unique. There’s not very many other Caribbean destinations that can actually put a sandy beach within arm’s length of an open farm.

“That becomes a dramatic differentiator which allows us to attract a wider variety of clientele, and distinguish ourselves from other Caribbean destinations we might be competing with. We really need to hone in on these different niches - agri-tourism, edu-tourism - and that is really going to allow us to find new area of growth in the industry.

“I don’t have the figures in front of me, but we’re starting to fill up for the 2025 first quarter. A lot of it is because of the wedding market that we’re involved in. People are looking at these different types of experience that they can have with a beach wedding and then the farm experience with dinner at night.

“From a recreational and rest perspective, a lot of people are interested in health and wellness, and we’re starting off with a Yoga Retreat and will hopefully attract all those things. I’m optimistic that, within two to three years, The Farm should do very well and, if not competing with the other two, it will complement them well.”

Mr Simmons said The Farm will also permit him to offer visitors a price point that is “a little softer” than his Ocean View property that is located on Harbour Island while still providing them with access to that destination.

He also plans to develop 5.5 acre lot in The Current, which has 1,000 feet of beach front and is located 15-20 minutes away from his The Other Side property on mainland Eleuthera, into a fourth resort. That site is also adjacent to what was once the Current Club, and he hopes to develop it over a two-year period with an opening in fall 2026, although a little respite may be required following The Farm.

“We might catch our breath for a second,” Mr Simmons told Tribune Business. “Planning takes a minute. We’ve got to go through and do the environmental stuff, the EIAs and EMPs, and make sure we tick all the boxes with the Department of Environmental Planning and Protection (DEPP) and, once that’s done, we will get going.

“We’ll keep them going. We’ll keep five or six in the long haul. The long-term plan is to keep on expanding small, sustainable tourism that goes from strength to strength as opposed to single phase massive build-outs that sometimes fail to get going before they’ve finished. Fingers crossed things are tip-toeing in the right direction. I’m grateful we have got as far as we have and will keep on trucking.”

All four resorts, and any future properties, will be incorporated into Mr Simmons’ newly-created Little Island Hotels group - a brand that is still being developed “slowly but surely”. He added: “We’ve launched the new website. It will take a while to get the messaging out that we’re a collection of little hotels and you can have a different experience at each.”