Reports
THE CARIBBEAN - THE BAHAMAS
drive at the beginning of the year.
Te resort is owned by Chow Tai Fook Enterprises, a Hong Kong based conglomerate which took ownership of the resort last year via its subsidiary company CTF BM Holdings Ltd. Te resort will comprise of the Grand Hyatt, the SLS Lux, due to open in the summer, and Rosewood by 2017. Te Grand Hyatt will start taking ‘paying guests’ on May 29. Tere are six swimming pools; a 30,000 sq.ft spa called Espa; fitness centre and racquet club; 40 restaurants and bars all located in a lush landscape with fountains and pools and golf course. Tere is a large convention room, three ballrooms and even a chapel.
Te casino is a huge 100,000sq.ft Las Vegas style gaming area overlooking the ocean and featuring 1,500 slots and 150 table games. Tere are private VIP gaming salons, mobile, sports betting and online gaming throughout the resort plus a 4,500 sq.ft sports book area.
Some 1,000 rooms are now open as part of the soft opening in April alongside the convention centre, golf course and casino and shops. Baha Mar is expected to bring an additional 315,000 air passengers per year to the Bahamas and is set to cost $3.5bn.
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Meanwhile the developers are also looking at the redevelopment of the Wyndham Crystal Hotel and the possibility of refurbishing this project in the future. Te Crystal Palace casino closed its doors in 2015 in preparation for the opening of the new Baha Mar development. Tis resort first opened in 1983 under the name of Cable Beach Casino and was rebranded as Crystal Palace in 1988 under the ownership of Carnival Cruise Lines. Baha Mar bought the property in 2005 from the Ruffin Group to turn it into a world class resort destination.
Memories Grand Bahama Beach Resort is located on the Grand Bahama island just outside the town of Freeport and is an all inclusive resort with casino which opened in 2014. It closed in October last year when it was hit by Hurricane Matthew.
Te damage removed 1,500 rooms from Grand Bahamas island’s hotel inventory with Memories closed and just 200 rooms open at the Grand Lucayan.
Te government has said it will pay out $2.5m to speed up repairs. Parent operator is Blue Diamond Hotel and Resorts chain, the SunWing Travel management company, which is part of a consortium which includes the Hard Rock
International and they are apparently involved in a $110m bid to buy the Grand Lucayan property which was hit by the hurricane.
Owner Hong Kong conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa has apparently never turned a profit on this location and has been keeping it afloat with subsidies with reported losses of up $10- $20m each year since the property opened in 2011. Te Wynn Group of Canada is also looking at this property.
Many fear this will affect tourism in the Grand Bahama island as the Bahamians move to look for work at other resorts. Baha Mar for instance is currently recruiting 1,500 people.
LOTTERY Numbers games date back to the 18th century in
the Bahamas and although all gambling was illegal in the Bahamas casinos were operated by way of an exemption.
Te Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe has been pushing the lottery idea saying it would help with the enormous costs associated with natural disasters the Bahamas are subject to.
Hurricane Matthew alone caused around $600m in damage whilst Hurricane Joaquin
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