Many of you must have read that the Atlantis Hotel, the largest hotel in the region, had to send home 800 employees, because of the reduction in tourist arrivals. The Bahamas is also facing a “cessation of direct foreign investment in the tourism sector because of the poor outlook for the industry and because of financing difficulties”.
As you know, tourism is the mainstay of the Bahamian economy; because of the decline in the sector, non-performing loans in the banking sector have increased by 40 per cent. In Barbados, you have a similar situation of declining tourism activity, and the postponement of investments in the tourism sector.