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THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 2021
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December arrivals down 95% on 2019 By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
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HE Bahamas saw total visitor arrivals for December 2020 slump by 95 percent year-over-year despite the re-opening of its two mega resort destinations and other major hotels. The decline, described by Dionisio D’Aguilar, minister of tourism and aviation, as “abysmal but it’s all relative”, can be calculated based on the 35,000 health travel visas that his ministry approved for visitors during the month that included the
• Minister says numbers ‘abysmal but it’s relative’ • 35,000 visitor health visas issued during month • Fears US may impose PCR test for returnees
DIONISIO D’AGUILAR
Christmas and New Year’s Eve holidays. Those 35,000 stand in stark contrast to the 710,186 visitors that Ministry of Tourism statistics show visited The Bahamas in December 2019, equal to less than five percent of prior year totals in what was a record 12 months for tourist arrivals. The data demonstrates how much ground this nation’s major industry
has to recover, despite the fanfare surrounding the re-opening of Atlantis and Baha Mar and the recall of several thousand workers, as it bids to rebound from the devastation inflicted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Admittedly much of the year-over-year decline was caused by the total loss of cruise passengers, with The Bahamas receiving just over
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Retailer: US dollar payments dry up
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
A BAHAMIAN retailer yesterday said US dollar notes have “pretty much disappeared” from circulation as he warned that the sector faced “a new reality” until the COVID-19 vaccine takes global effect. Andrew Wilson, the Quality Business Centre (QBC) and Fashion on Broadway principal, told Tribune Business the amount and frequency of US dollar payments received by his retail brands was “nowhere near what it used to be” in a sign of just how much foreign currency inflows throughout the real economy have dried up due to the pandemic and tourism shutdown. Revealing that his
• QBC chief says circulation ‘nowhere near’ past • Xmas sales off 25-30% as retail faces ‘new reality’ • ‘Consumer who spent $300 now parting with $175’ Christmas sales were between 25-30 percent down on prior COVID-free years, Mr Wilson said consumer spending and average transaction amounts were “substantially down” yearover-year as Bahamians operated under the constraints imposed by mass unemployment and income reductions. “There was a time when quite a bit of the dollars coming across our cash register were US dollars. That’s no longer happening any more,” he told this newspaper. “US dollars in circulation are nowhere what they used to be. It’s
‘Don’t presume we’ll sacrifice tourism for oil’
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
BAHAMAS Petroleum Company (BPC) was yesterday warned “not to presume that Bahamians will collapse and sacrifice the world’s most successful per capita tourism industry” even if oil is discovered. Fred Smith QC, the Callenders & Co attorney and partner who is representing environmental activists in their Judicial Review challenge to BPC’s exploratory drilling permits, told Tribune Business that the oil explorer’s chief executive, Simon Potter, was “missing
FRED SMITH QC the point” when he asserted that The Bahamas will discover within four to six weeks whether it is “an oil rich nation”. The outspoken QC argued that there was no certainty,
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BPC ‘halt’ rejected over losses pledge absence By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Supreme Court refused to “stay” Bahamas Petroleum Company’s (BPC) exploratory oil drilling because its opponents failed to give “a cross-undertaking” to cover potential losses from such delay. Justice Petra HannaAdderley, noting BPC’s assertion that it could incur at least $25m in extra costs “and possibly much more” if she suspended its activities in mid-drilling, declined to issue the halt sought by
Waterkeepers Bahamas and Save the Bays because they did not promise to compensate the explorer for any damages suffered. She also accepted arguments by the government’s attorney, Aiden Casey QC, that there was no decisionmaking process to halt because the government had already issued BPC with the necessary Environmental Authorisation (EA) and all other relevant permits and approvals. “The facts, as highlighted by all of the parties, are
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pretty much disappeared. “We see the occasional $20, the occasional $50, and a couple of $5 bills. For the most part it’s Bahamian dollars in circulation.” Mr Wilson’s disclosures are the first sign of how the “trickle down” of US dollars into the real economy from visitor spending and gratuities has been largely cut-off by the eight-month tourism industry shutdown. While the external reserves, boosted by the government’s foreign currency borrowings, stood at $2.341bn at end-October 2010, the flow of US dollars among ordinary consumers
and the speed at which they circulate has clearly been disrupted by the economic fall-out from COVID-19. Meanwhile, Mr Wilson said of Christmas sales: “They were OK, especially in the final days. They were not as in years past, nor were they expected to be, but overall I think the relaxation of the curfew and other restrictions helped. “All things considered, we were pleased as they were in line with expectations. We expected a 25-30 percent decline overall compared to 2019, and
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Declining exam results labelled ‘unsustainable’ for GDP growth By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A GOVERNANCE reformer yesterday warned the Ministry of Education not to lose sight of the fact this year’s BGCSE exam results “create an unsustainable scenario” that will undermine GDP growth. Robert Myers, the Organisation for Responsible Governance’s (ORG) principal, told Tribune Business that while he was not criticising education officials for congratulating themselves on holding the exams amid COVID-19, they were seemingly failing to notice that the deteriorating grades are “detrimental to the nation’s success”. “I’m sure they feel that’s an accomplishment,” he said of the ministry’s selfpraise for just holding the exams, “and considering the circumstances I’d agree it’s an accomplishment. But that accomplishment doesn’t diminish the effect the results are going to have on productivity and the wider economy. “It’s just that the results are a measure of capacity and skills, and it would indicate there’s a significant problem. Yes, it’s wonderful being able to keep school open and complete the exams, but the macro picture is not that. The macro picture is what effect that has on the economy and people’s livelihoods, and their capacity to become employed and productive members of society. The Ministry of Education previously said national exam results worsened in 2020 compared to 2019, with fewer students achieving A, B and C grades and more students receiving D, E, F and G grades compared to the year before.
ROBERT MYERS The total percentage of grades awarded at “D” or higher was lower this year than in any of the previous four years, and the overall number of test takers plummeted amid the COVID-19 crisis, according to statistics from the Ministry of Education. The number of BGCSE candidates that received at least a “C” grade in five or more subjects declined by 5.8 percent. The number of students that received a minimum grade of “D” in at least five subjects declined by nine percent, and the number of candidates that received at least a “C” in mathematics, English language and a science declined by 3.3 percent. “The ministry feels that’s a success, but the reality is the results are poor and declining,” Mr Myers told this newspaper. “That’s going to become even more obvious in this COVID-19 environment. They may have been able to complete the tests, but it doesn’t distract from the fact we have a bigger macroeconomic problem. “Education may feel good about it, but the business community surely doesn’t and civil society surely shouldn’t. That needs to be the focus. It’s going to be a drain on GDP growth unless we get more aggressive with
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