Help me understand. For example, if a foreigner meets the minimum investment and starts a business, they have one year to train a Bahamian for each position in the new company.

Where does it say the Bahamian must then be hired for the position or even paid during the training period?

Here's what some cruise passengers think of Nassau: https://goo.gl/EuWddF

Perception is reality. Change their perception and maybe the spending will grow.

It's supply and demand, that's it. Create more demand by showing a beautiful, welcoming, safe country (and then fill it with additional airlift), revenues will be fine.

If they can't create more demand, if airlines hesitate to increase flights, if tourists don't like the crime rates, or a million other things happen then rates will fall and the properties will fight tooth and nail for every guest.

USCBP will keep that boat and sell it at auction. How much of that $ will The Bahamas get?

Poor Obie, his memory is fading.

Here's a link to the official press release from the Ministry of Tourism:

https://goo.gl/5nemPR

Just in case that doesn't work, here is how the MoT titled the press release:
"update: The Islands Of The Bahamas Welcome Fyre Festival to The Exumas
*Minister of Tourism fully endorses two weekend-long events in April and May, 2017*"

And here's his quote:
"We are very excited that The Exumas have been selected as the home of Fyre Festival. This music festival will bring to The Bahamas one of the largest events ever hosted in our destination, and we are delighted to welcome all attendees to our island. We're working closely with the Fyre Festival Team to ensure that visitors have an unforgettable trip to the Exumas. The Exuma Islands and surrounding seas are one of the most beautiful and pristine destinations in the world. We're looking forward to sharing the beauty of our island with guests of Fyre Festival, just eight weeks away" - The Hon. Obediah H. Wilchombe, M.P., West Grand Bahama and Bimini; Minister of Tourism.

That's over $1M per day, just from general aviation.

I'd like to know how many international, general aviation arrivals The Bahamas sees each day and what value they assign to each passenger, based on aircraft type (turbine pax spend more than small piston planes) because that number seems really high.

If Mr Rolle truly wants to "make The Bahamas the best aviation-friendly destination in this hemisphere" and encourage more arrivals (and more millions), he could start by dropping the ridiculous​ $50 processing fee and $29 per person departure tax required for each flight.

That's one way to see Grand Bahama once again "brimming over with private planes."

Were there valid work permits for the Americans that flew in to work the event in March and April?

A "retirement village" with homes priced around $2M? Good luck with that. Retirement village homes would need to be priced quite a bit lower and many spending $2M+ for homes are looking for privacy, not a "retirement village" concept.

If you want to attract Florida retirees to Freeport, create a pensioner visa program and add direct air service to Orlando and Tampa.

Interesting that The Bahamas labour laws include requiring employers to make redundancy payments for acts of god.

Perhaps the employees should contact Hutchinson Whampoa for the additional monies they are owed.

Thank you, Sunwing, for trying to bring both jobs and tourists to Grand Bahama. Not only are you out of business through no fault of your own but you are also required to pay people for not working.

Note to anyone thinking of investing in or starting a business in The Bahamas...don't.

Mr Miller,

In the US, many power companies have agreements to bring in help from other areas (better known as "foreigners") The Edison Electric Institute published a paper on the mutual aid process, and you may read it here:

http://www.eei.org/issuesandpolicy/el...

I hope providing a link to a foreign website doesn't hurt your sensibilities.

No single utility has the capability to quickly restore power when the entire system is offline. That's why they agree to work together in times of disaster. If they all wanted the jobs to go to untrained locals, the systems would take months to come back online.

Your idea of having Bahamians do the work just for the sake of having them be Bahamian is ludicrous. The time for training those Bahamians was long ago and it would have cost you millions of dollars to not only train them, but to keep them employed while you waited for a disaster.

Your protectionism and that of others in The Bahamas explains much about what is wrong with your country.

I'm sure those that volunteered for the assignment to assist all Bahamians would rather be at home with their families rather than suffer the whining of a short-sighted fool.

Would you also refuse monetary donations and aid from the US and people like me that gave to help when asked?

Just when I think it's time to reconsider The Bahamas as a place for investment and to visit, I'm reminded why I stopped coming.