NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) president Robert “Sandy” Sands yesterday urged the government to pursue structural reform needed for the growth of the country’s tourism industry and economy in general.
Sands maintained that the issue of minimum wage is only one component of a holistic strategy to develop a thriving and resilient economy, as he expressed the association’s support of the minimum wage hike.
“The tourism industry as key private-sector partners with the Government, and employers of similar scale, has been aligned with the Government’s perspective that an increase to minimum wage is due; the topic has been on the table for collective discussion between the public and private sector for some time,” he said.
“We are equally aligned with the Government’s acknowledgment and concerns regarding the myriad of unprecedented challenges we are facing due to forces outside of our control. We concur with and support the Government’s efforts to mitigate the adverse effects on our economy.”
He continued: “Supply chain issues, ensuing product shortages and price hikes attributed to the pandemic; global inflation, post economic devastation exacerbated by past Hurricanes, is our harsh reality. Public and private sector employers and employees, Bahamian entrepreneurs, business owners and operators have weathered seemingly insurmountable challenges.
“It is truly a testament to our tenacity, determination, and resilience that we are where we are today. The tourism industry; from bone-fish lodges to local Bahamian restaurants; home-grown boutique Bed & Breakfast accommodations to mammoth-sized resorts, recognize the importance of curtailing the rising cost of living and doing business in The Bahamas as an essential element to our ability to survive, and eventually thrive as a key driver of our tourism economy.
Back in July, during a BHTA Board and membership meeting suggested that the government give the hotel sector special consideration as it moves to increase the country’s minimum wage.
Sands said at the time that the industry was not indifferent to some type of minimum wage increase but hopes that the volume of gratuities some workers earn on top of minimum wage will be taken into consideration.
Yesterday, he said: “The topic of Minimum Wage is only one component of a holistic strategy that must be designed and deployed to achieve all that we collectively seek to accomplish; a thriving, resilient, sustainable, diverse economy that befittingly supports a population comprised of a diverse range of micro, small, medium and large sized business owners, operators and employees: the public sector and quasi-public sector agencies and their employees.
“However, we encourage the Government to meaningfully pursue structural reform needed for the growth of our Tourism Industry and economy in general, such as the diversification in power generation; and to swiftly deploy initiatives designed to address long-standing issues that contribute to the high cost of doing business in The Bahamas.
Sands added: “In addition, we support and encourage the Government’s efforts to ensure tourism participants who have been benefitting from but not contributing to the public purse, are brought into the financial fold, so we may aptly share the weight of the financial burdens we bear as a nation today.”
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