By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Lynden Pindling International Airport’s (LPIA) top executive yesterday asserted “this is as good a time as any” to revive a 15-year effort to develop a hotel with up to 240 rooms at Nassau’s main gateway.

Vernice Walkine, Nassau Airport Development Company’s (NAD) president and chief executive, told Tribune Business that market conditions “just make sense to get it done now” after the LPIA operator reissued its call for resort developers to express interest in designing, constructing, financing and operating a hotel property within the airport’s grounds.

She added that western New Providence’s “booming” economy, combined with LPIA’s record passenger numbers and the destination’s lack of sufficient hotel rooms to accommodate heightened tourist demand, were all factors that prompted NAD to revisit plans for a hotel that were first proposed in 2010. After that fizzled, another request for developer proposals was issued in 2018, but little happened until yesterday’s revival move.

Ms Walkine told this newspaper that the Government’s energy reforms also figured in NAD’s decision, and were “part of our conversation”, as the prospect of cheaper electricity rates potentially paves the way for the mid-market and upper-mid market price points being targeted for the hotel. Energy is the resort industry’s highest cost besides labour, and high electricity tariffs force most Bahamian resorts to high-end room rates.

The airport hotel is the “first” stage in NAD’s wider vision to create a larger business and economic hub centred on LPIA, which initial concept drawings show as featuring separate office complexes and food and beverage sites. Ms Walkine, though, said that while NAD is “very determined” to execute its Gateway District plan it remains a longer-term project especially given current global economic turmoil.

Speaking after NAD unveiled a two-stage bidding process, with the deadline for initial expressions of interest set at June 25, 2025, Ms Walkine told Tribune Business: “The primary reason we are prepared to do this now is because we recognise the kind of demand we’ve been seeing in Nassau/Paradise Island can only be sustained by adding more inventory...

“The timing is goo. It will be a couple of years before it’s all done. During that time whatever conditions are going on now will settle, and it will add some inventory to the rooms in Nassau/Paradise Island. It just made sense to get it done now. 

“We continue to be asked all the time: ‘Why don’t you have a hotel at the airport?’ It’s amazing the amount of comments and feedback we get from passengers, airline crews. Everyone seems to think we should have, as an international airport, some type of hotel accommodation. The timing is as good a time as any to put it out there now.”

Ms Walkine said NAD hired consultants to conduct studies to determine whether an airport hotel is economically feasible, while also consulting realtors and other persons to “determine exactly what we need” and if western New Providence “can accommodate that”.

She added: “It had to make business sense... It was determined that it could certainly translate into more rooms, and the destination needs more rooms. We’re not talking about a five-star hotel. We’re talking a three t four-star hotel with conference facilities, restaurants, maybe a pool, maybe a spa; just enough comfort so people not even travelling might find a reason to stay there.”

NAD, in a statement, argued that reviving the airport hotel project “is well-timed” given tourism’s continued strength following the COVID pandemic and suggested there is sufficient travel demand to sustain up to a 240-room property. The proposed five-acre hotel site is currently being used as a cell phone call-up parking lot, lying immediately south-west of the intersection between Windsor Field Road and airport exit.

While the level of construction investment, and number of building and full-time jobs, will ultimately be determined by the developer and its third-party developers, Ms Walkine said the airport hotel “can be scaled” according to demand. She suggested it could be developed, via two buildings each featuring 120 rooms, one building at a time.

Asked whether the Government’s energy reforms factored into NAD’s plans, Ms Walkine replied: “Yes, big time. That is absolutely correct. Yes, it did, and that was part of our consideration. We think there’s a good argument to be made for this hotel, or hotels, to be developed and succeed. We really think so.”

Besides the potential 240 rooms, NAD added that the identified five-acre site also has the ability to accommodate around 280 parking spaces with much of the necessary infrastructure already in place. It added that the hotel could cater to a variety of guests, including travellers and visitors to the Family Islands who either want to - or are forced to - overnight in Nassau.

Most international airports have multiple hotels either within their properties or in close proximity. NAD said other guest markets for such a hotel at LPIA could include flights crews, persons visiting for one-day conferences and meetings, and clients coming in to visit western New Providence financial institutions, law firms and other businesses. The convention and conference market would be another major target.

The hotel is part of what NAD described as a wider Landside Development Master Plan and Strategy (LDMS) that it is developing in collaboration with its management partner, Vantage Group. This would create a ‘Gateway District’ to further stimulate economic development in western New Providence, while diversifying LPIA’s revenue streams beyond the existing aeronautical and non-aeronautical income.

Ms Walkine, though, described this as NAD’s “big picture” vision for the airport and surrounding area that remains some way off from being executed. “The hotel is first, and that will give us some time to consider the rest,” he told Tribune Business. 

“In the environment we’re in today, with some uncertainty about what’s happening with the US economy and the impact on our business, we need to be a bit more cautious in terms of determining when and how to roll-out other elements of that gateway project. It’s something we’re very determined to do.”

Some 3.71m passengers passed through LPIA during NAD’s 2023 financial year, just shy of the 3.99m processed in its 2019. Its facilities are designed to span 20-40 years and accommodate up to five million passengers, and Ms Walkine said the annual passenger record had been broken in 2024.

“With our record-breaking passenger traffic in financial year 2024 and a strong post-pandemic tourism rebound, we believe that this is the right time to revisit the hotel development as a key component of our broader landside development vision for LPIA,” she added in a statement.

“Nassau’s western district is booming and LPIA sits at the centre of this surge in growth. A well-designed airport hotel not only addresses a critical accommodation gap but also strengthens our role as a driver of economic development.

“This opportunity is about more than a hotel - it’s part of a larger vision to create a dynamic Gateway District that meets the needs of travellers and the wider community, both now and into the future.”

The revived hotel project comes as room availability lags behind tourism growth.  In 2023, average occupancy rates reached 72.1 percent, with some properties reporting rates as high as 95 percent during peak periods in 2024.

Chester Cooper, deputy prime minister and minister of tourism, investments and aviation, said:  “Our thriving tourism sector, coupled with a reduction in available hotel rooms post-pandemic, highlights the urgent need for new accommodations. As we plan for the future, we must ensure that the necessary infrastructure is in place to support and sustain our growth.”

The hotel project bidding process is separated into two phases. In the first ‘expression of interest’ phase, potential developers must show their qualifications, financial capacity, development experience and project approach. Short-listed candidates will then be invited to participate in a second phase Request for Proposal (RFP) to determine the winning bidder.

NAD added that “Bahamian participation is strongly encouraged, and proponents will be required to outline how they intend to incorporate local partnerships and community investment into their plans”. 

Tribune Business revealed plans for an LPIA airport hotel as far back as October 2011. The original developers were said to be the owners of the Atlantic Resort & Spa in Fort Lauderdale, and the project was anticipated to create between 100-150 full-time jobs via a resort of ‘four-star’ standard, rather than the typical ‘two-star’ airport hotel.

George Allen, one of the principals in the original developer group, told Tribune Business at the time they had elected not to pursue the LPIA airport hotel because feasibility studies showed it could sustain only 50 rooms.

This was 50 per cent of the inventory eyed by NAD, and Mr Allen said the group had instead looked at developing a mixed-use proposal for the site involving a smaller hotel, offices, retail and restaurant. This, though, failed to match NAD’s demands.  

CAPTIONS

LPIA Gateway District – This shows the concept for the potential development of the LPIA Gateway District as NAD seeks expressions of interest for a hotel across one or two buildings on the site

LPIA Airport Hotel - This showcases the potential development of the LPIA Gateway District as NAD seeks expressions of interest for a hotel across one or two buildings on the site