We have dropped the ball with tourism too many times to count! The Bahamas as a gateway to Europe, and North & South America is a total no-brainer that should have been vigorously pursued decades ago.
This is not a new idea and would be an excellent profit center for the Bahamas. Lufthansa, Equatoriana, Sabena Airlines, International Air Bahama, British Airways, and Bahama Airways, successfully used the Bahamas as a gateway to North America, South America, and Europe in the '80s.
Given Florida's close-to-maximum passenger and cargo transit development capabilities, the proximity of New Providence and Grand Bahama as gateways have been of great interest to many international airlines for decades!
Thank you Mr. Sands for putting things in proper perspective.
Dr. Romer is so busy pandering to government propaganda nonsense he forgot that many of us are **actually real veteran tourism professionals** that truly understand the industry and will not allow him to spew bullshyt for brownie points as he did last week without retribution!
So we have a serious 15-20% shortage of tourist accommodations due to offline inventory and the government's solution is to create bottlenecks and hardship by burdening the struggling vacation home rental sector that still has not recovered from 2 years of Covid.
These people still had mortgages, maintenance, and other expenses to meet during the lockdown period AND had to find a way to get back up and running as things began to return to normalcy.
The problem can only be that the government continues proving they have no idea why and what they are doing in tourism. Another case in point of government ignorance in tourism is in 1980 an airport exit survey revealed the single biggest tourist-related resort complaint was a shortage of things to do in Nassau, and to date, no government has done a dam thing to even remotely address the issue. Yet they stand around yapping about the "importance of the number 1 industry".
What the government needs to do is forget about suppressing and taxing the vacation home rental sector for the immediate future and focus on encouraging even more individuals to make vacation home rental properties available for tourists to bridge the 15-20% shortage we are now faced with in the short term.
Airbnb, HomeAway, Booking.com, and all other vacation home rental operators already collect 10% VAT for the government, for all sales, and over 60% of them do not make $100,000 per year to qualify for VAT collection, so the government is profiting more with this scenario anyway.
The PLP propaganda machine is in full-swing mode for those ignorant enough to believe what they hear!
Ministry of Tourism deputy director general Dr Kenneth Romer is allowing himself to be used to make stupid statements and lose what little credibility he has left.
Comparing 2019 to 2022 numbers with 2023 without mentioning the pandemic is dishonest and misleading at best.
Secondly, talking about capacity shortages without distinguishing the number of room inventory currently offline i.e. Cable Beach Hilton, Sheraton British Colonial, Freeport Lucaya, Breezes, and numerous small hotels that have also gone under is disingenuous.
The fact is, the Bahamas' tourism product has been backsliding for decades.
Instead of the government doing all it can to encourage growth, they are busy creating red tape and bottlenecks causing difficulties for the vacation home rental sector.
Successive government's behavior of painstakingly protecting irregular migrants to any lengths instead of supporting the rights of Bahamians points to "a criminal plot" underway "to change the demographic makeup of the Bahamas".
This 360-degree jackass is trying to baffle us with bullshyt using smoke and mirrors to dodge the solution to resolve the issue.
All these genius clowns need to do is vigorously prosecute anyone found hiring illegals with a $10,000.00 fine and post a bounty of $3,000.00 for anyone reporting individuals employing illegals that leads to a conviction.
Employers wouldn't risk hiring illegals and the illegals wouldn't have any reason to come here anymore.
The whole scheme would not only be self-funding but also profitable.
So either get it done or please sit down and STFU Keith Bell.
The PLP and FNM corrupt politicians and their elite leeches have been relentlessly robbing the people's Treasury in broad daylight without fear of prosecution and protecting each other for 50+ years!
This is the same class of corrupt individuals and grafts that made Haiti a failed state today.
SP says...
Three murders over the weekend? Looks like the Commissioner's promise of holding murders under 100 for 2023 will not be materialized.
The ex-pats have all the blue-collar jobs, which leaves crime as the only way under-educated people can survive.
On Weekend scarred by three murders
Posted 20 March 2023, 8:02 p.m. Suggest removal
SP says...
We have dropped the ball with tourism too many times to count! The Bahamas as a gateway to Europe, and North & South America is a total no-brainer that should have been vigorously pursued decades ago.
This is not a new idea and would be an excellent profit center for the Bahamas. Lufthansa, Equatoriana, Sabena Airlines, International Air Bahama, British Airways, and Bahama Airways, successfully used the Bahamas as a gateway to North America, South America, and Europe in the '80s.
Given Florida's close-to-maximum passenger and cargo transit development capabilities, the proximity of New Providence and Grand Bahama as gateways have been of great interest to many international airlines for decades!
On ‘Air cargo hub’ ambition for GB’s $200m airport
Posted 17 March 2023, 6:39 p.m. Suggest removal
SP says...
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Total meaningless bullshyt that will help absolutely no one!
On King Charles III and Governor General hail Commonwealth Day
Posted 13 March 2023, 7:10 p.m. Suggest removal
SP says...
Thank you Mr. Sands for putting things in proper perspective.
Dr. Romer is so busy pandering to government propaganda nonsense he forgot that many of us are **actually real veteran tourism professionals** that truly understand the industry and will not allow him to spew bullshyt for brownie points as he did last week without retribution!
So we have a serious 15-20% shortage of tourist accommodations due to offline inventory and the government's solution is to create bottlenecks and hardship by burdening the struggling vacation home rental sector that still has not recovered from 2 years of Covid.
These people still had mortgages, maintenance, and other expenses to meet during the lockdown period AND had to find a way to get back up and running as things began to return to normalcy.
The problem can only be that the government continues proving they have no idea why and what they are doing in tourism. Another case in point of government ignorance in tourism is in 1980 an airport exit survey revealed the single biggest tourist-related resort complaint was a shortage of things to do in Nassau, and to date, no government has done a dam thing to even remotely address the issue. Yet they stand around yapping about the "importance of the number 1 industry".
What the government needs to do is forget about suppressing and taxing the vacation home rental sector for the immediate future and focus on encouraging even more individuals to make vacation home rental properties available for tourists to bridge the 15-20% shortage we are now faced with in the short term.
Airbnb, HomeAway, Booking.com, and all other vacation home rental operators already collect 10% VAT for the government, for all sales, and over 60% of them do not make $100,000 per year to qualify for VAT collection, so the government is profiting more with this scenario anyway.
Stupid does as stupid is. Carry on smartly!
On Hotels strike ‘glass ceiling’ on 15-20% room shortage
Posted 13 March 2023, 7:04 p.m. Suggest removal
SP says...
The PLP propaganda machine is in full-swing mode for those ignorant enough to believe what they hear!
Ministry of Tourism deputy director general Dr Kenneth Romer is allowing himself to be used to make stupid statements and lose what little credibility he has left.
Comparing 2019 to 2022 numbers with 2023 without mentioning the pandemic is dishonest and misleading at best.
Secondly, talking about capacity shortages without distinguishing the number of room inventory currently offline i.e. Cable Beach Hilton, Sheraton British Colonial, Freeport Lucaya, Breezes, and numerous small hotels that have also gone under is disingenuous.
The fact is, the Bahamas' tourism product has been backsliding for decades.
Instead of the government doing all it can to encourage growth, they are busy creating red tape and bottlenecks causing difficulties for the vacation home rental sector.
On Room capacity challenges as tourism numbers grow
Posted 12 March 2023, 10:42 a.m. Suggest removal
SP says...
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Regardless of the situation, as usual, the **LAW** only applies to poor black Bahamians.
On Chief Justice exposes ‘fronting’ on Bay Street
Posted 8 March 2023, 4:55 p.m. Suggest removal
SP says...
Successive government's behavior of painstakingly protecting irregular migrants to any lengths instead of supporting the rights of Bahamians points to "a criminal plot" underway "to change the demographic makeup of the Bahamas".
On Bahamians in US plan protest in Miami against Davis administration
Posted 5 March 2023, 9:31 a.m. Suggest removal
SP says...
This 360-degree jackass is trying to baffle us with bullshyt using smoke and mirrors to dodge the solution to resolve the issue.
All these genius clowns need to do is vigorously prosecute anyone found hiring illegals with a $10,000.00 fine and post a bounty of $3,000.00 for anyone reporting individuals employing illegals that leads to a conviction.
Employers wouldn't risk hiring illegals and the illegals wouldn't have any reason to come here anymore.
The whole scheme would not only be self-funding but also profitable.
So either get it done or please sit down and STFU Keith Bell.
On More than 500 apprehensions of irregular migrants under Operation Restore
Posted 2 March 2023, 4:59 p.m. Suggest removal
SP says...
The law is only for poor black Bahamians. Haitians, politicians, and their leeches are exempt from the law.
On ‘NGO went on spending spree with food money’
Posted 2 March 2023, 4:43 p.m. Suggest removal
SP says...
The PLP and FNM corrupt politicians and their elite leeches have been relentlessly robbing the people's Treasury in broad daylight without fear of prosecution and protecting each other for 50+ years!
This is the same class of corrupt individuals and grafts that made Haiti a failed state today.
On ‘NGO went on spending spree with food money’
Posted 2 March 2023, 4:40 p.m. Suggest removal