By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas must better align tourism and tax policy “silos” to ensure it does not force stopover visitors “to save up for a lifetime” to enjoy this nation’s “lifetime of experiences”, a senior executive is arguing.

Kerry Fountain, the Bahama Out Island Promotion Board’s executive director, told Tribune Business that the seeming disconnect between Ministry of Tourism promotions and the Ministry of Finance’s fiscal policies - highlighted most recently by the boating fees fall-out - must be seized as an “opportunity” to ensure all arms of government and the private sector work together.

Speaking as online polls suggest that almost 75 percent, or three-quarters, of potential boating visitors either plan to “significantly reduce their visits or avoid The Bahamas altogether, he again reiterated his belief that the “lowest hanging fruit” for government revenue is the fast-expanding cruise industry and the 9.4m passengers that came to this nation last year.

Mr Fountain, suggesting that The Bahamas’ tax policies are giving the cruise industry a “competitive advantage” over higher-spending stopover tourism, told this newspaper that both government and private sector need to engage over how to “more fairly tax cruise passengers” for the economy and Public Treasury’s wider benefit.

“The Ministry of Tourism, they’re doing in my opinion a very good job of promoting to consumers that The Bahamas is more than just Nassau and Paradise Island,” the Promotion Board chief said. “That The Bahamas offers a lifetime of islands.

“It seems, however, that the other government agencies - I don’t want to paint this negatively, I want to paint this as an opportunity - that there’s an opportunity for other government ministries before they implement these taxes to sit down with their public sector partners and private sector partners to determine that, if they do ‘Y’, how it will impact this business.

“It seems like the silos are not connected. The Government silos are not connected,” Mr Fountain said. “It’s like on the one hand we’re saying there’s a lifetime of islands and experiences, but with all the taxes and fees we are charging, we are almost making people save up for a lifetime to have a lifetime of experiences. There’s definitely an opportunity to tighten that.”

The Davis administration’s fiscal policy has largely focused on ensuring any taxes and fee increases, plus new levies, are directed away from individual Bahamians and households towards foreigners - especially those perceived as wealthy, and having deep pockets and the ability to pay without any impact.

This has resulted in fee increases for both private aviation and boating/yachting visitors, with the breadth and scale of the hikes raising tourism industry fears that The Bahamas - already a high-cost destination - is pricing itself out of the market. Cruise passengers, too, have been hit with higher departure taxes plus new tourism development and environmental levies.

Mr Fountain, though, reiterated concerns that the fee hikes are undermining The Bahamas’ proximity advantage when it comes to US and Florida stopover (land-based) and boating visitors. And, in so doing, it continues to hand a cost competitiveness advantage to the cruise industry whose passengers’ per capita spending is 28 times’ lower than their stopover counterparts.

“We’re giving our competitive advantage to the cruise lines,” he told Tribune Business. “If you compare what we’re charging, and forget about what they pay when once they get here, but if you look at what we’re charging the cruise line passengers and what we’re charging stopover visitors coming via commercial airlift, flying their own aircraft and coming on their own boat, we’re giving competitive advantage to cruise passengers who spend the least amount of money.

“That does not make sense to me. There’s an opportunity for the public and private sectors to sit down and collaborate. We understand the impact, and if we’re proposing how to more fairly tax cruise passengers, let’s have that conversation so we don’t make people save up for a lifetime to enjoy a lifetime of islands and lifetime of experiences. We’re strongly suggesting the lowest hanging fruit.”

Peter Maury, the Association of Bahamas Marinas (ABM) president, voiced concerns to Tribune Business that the cruise industry’s explosive growth and increasing reliance on its private islands meant that passengers will increasingly not be exposed to authentic Bahamian experiences and this nation’s people.

“We’re going to lose the product objectives for the industry,” he asserted. “It’s just going to be their [the cruise lines’] Bahamas. I’m not saying anything bad about the cruise industry but there has to be a Bahamas for us, the Bahamians.

“More and more, people go on luxury cruise lines. They’ve purchased islands in The Bahamas and give tourists their version of The Bahamas’ experience. It’s not going to be our version as Bahamians. Vacation rental properties are down, marinas are down, and this is driving a bigger wedge in the industry to face people with. I don’t see the cruise industry turning around and saving the country.”

Both men spoke out prior to publication of an online poll by the hulltruth.com, a popular boating social media website, which sought to assess the appetite to continue visiting The Bahamas following the July 1 imposition of new and increased fees on the sector, plus other regulatory requirements such as a mandatory automatic identification system (AIS) for boats over 55 feet in length.

Some 86, or 74.78 percent out of 115 respondents, said they will either “no longer visit The Bahamas by boat” or “visit significantly less frequently” following the changes. Another 25.22 percent, or one out of every four respondents, said they will “spend just as much time in The Bahamas” and not be impacted.

Of those who have been affected, some 51 or 44.35 percent plan to visit The Bahamas less frequently while 30.43 percent - close to one-third or one in three - will choose not to come. 

The revised Customs Management (Amendment) Regulations 2025 introduce a frequent digital cruising card (FDCC) for pleasure vessels that frequent The Bahamas, offering a permit to facilitate “unlimited visits for a period not exceeding two years”. This is conditioned on the vessel obtaining clearance to enter from Customs, and the linking of its registration number to the FDCC.

The permit fees are tied to the yacht or boat’s length. Those 50 feet or less will have to pay $1,500 for an FDCC, while those greater than 50 feet but less than 100 feet will have to pay $2,500, and those exceeding 100 feet, $8,000.

Meanwhile, the fees for a temporary cruising permit are also tied to the same lengths. A vessel that is 50 feet or less will have to pay $500 “for a period not exceeding 12 months”, while the fees for those greater than 50 feet and less than 100 feet, and over 100 feet, are being set at $1,000 and $3,000, respectively for the same period. They will also cover Customs and Immigration attendance costs.

Under the ‘temporary’ cruising permit, if a pleasure vessel carries more than three passengers, every additional one above the age of six - and who is a non-resident of The Bahamas - will be subject to a $30 per head tax under the Passenger Tax.

The Government, in splitting out the fishing permit fee into a separate levy, and not incorporating it with the cruise permit fee, has set this at $100 and $300 for vessels not exceeding, and exceeding, to feet respectively.

Finally, the new anchorage fees for vessels not mooring at a marina are pegged at $200 for a vessel not exceeding 50 feet; $350 for those between 50 feet and 100 feet; and $1,500 for those over 100 feet.