EDITOR, The Tribune.      

AM I confident in Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis’ statement that a deal to sell the Grand Lucayan Resort is in the final stages? Remember, Grand Bahamians have been let down twice since March 2019, when the former Free National Movement government announced that there was a deal on the table to sell the beleaguered property to Royal Caribbean and the ITM Group. Three years later, in May 2022, it was announced that Electra America Hospitality Group was set to purchase the resort for $100m. Both deals fell through. An insurance executive at the Grand Bahama Business Outlook conclave said that significant remediation work on the Breaker’s Cay and Sheraton will have to be done. Both properties have been in a state of deterioration since October 2016 after undergoing significant damage from Hurricane Matthew. That’s nine years ago.

At this point I am inclined to believe that the Grand Lucayan Resort will become the next Royal Oasis Resort 2.0. In late January I had the opportunity to visit Baha Mar on Cable Beach. I was thoroughly impressed with the $1.6 billion five star resort. It is worth noting that Baha Mar has announced that it will invest in a brand new luxury hotel at a cost of $350m. I have no reason to doubt that this investment will come to fruition, unlike the many broken promises to the people of Grand Bahama. While at Baha Mar the writer had the opportunity to see the Katsuya, Cinkō, Pizza Lab, Regatta Buffet, The Swimming Pig, Stix Noodle Bar and The Sugar Factory restaurants. Baha Mar has more restaurants than Port Lucaya. The Baha Mar property is breathtakingly beautiful.    

I have told some Grand Bahamians that that Cable Beach resort makes Port Lucaya and Grand Lucayan Resort look like ghettos in comparison. The tourism product on Cable Beach and Nassau is always being enhanced in an effort to remain on the cutting edge of the industry. Conversely, what we see at Port Lucaya is pretty much the same product I witnessed for the first time 32-years-ago when I first visited Port Lucaya. I have opined in the past in this space that Freeport needs at least two massive investments in tourism on the scale of Baha Mar in order to get back to being the so-called Magic City. Baha Mar is all that the Grand Lucayan should be.

KEVIN EVANS          

Freeport, Grand Bahama 

February 16 2025.