Raymond Harrison, senior manager of Eleuthera/Harbour Island Tourist Office said, “A lot of our people have been leaving Eleuthera looking for jobs. Quite a few work on Harbour Island but at the end of the day, we’ve been getting lots of calls and people are looking forward to coming back to Eleuthera as soon as developments start to take place.”
Mr. Harrison was responding to the economic boost articulated by Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Perry Christie, during the grand opening ceremony of the upscale resort on Friday, April 22.
“We are looking forward to Eleuthera returning to its heyday as it was in the 60s and 70s but with a more classier and upscale offering,” Mr. Harrison said Friday (April 22).
The Cove was originally built in 1969 and named Pineapple Cove. The new co-owners are Scott and Leslie Bumpas and Ann and George Hartley of Dallas, Texas and Seaside, Florida. The long-time friends, while vacationing at the resort in summer 2004 decided to purchase the property from the original owners. After the hurricane season past, the owners started and have almost completed renovations to the 10 Deluxe Suites and 12 standard rooms.
“This is going to add tremendously to the upscale products that we have available on the island. I think it’s going to act as the impetus to causing other investors to look at what’s happening here on the island and for them to move ahead,” added the 27-year tourism veteran; five years on the island.
“There are a number of investment opportunities on the table right now that we are waiting to take off and with this being established is really going to put people at ease and a lot of them can start to move forward.
“The transformation has been dramatic. We’re quite excited about it.”
Mr. Harrison said however, that it is important to maintain the island’s charm when attracting foreign investment.
“A lot of people look for the natural vegetation, flowers and plants indigenous to the area and they (Cove investors) have done a great job in incorporating a lot of those things into the whole plan they have developed here,” he said. “As other investors and developers see this it shows that it can be done and that we don’t have to bring in a lot of foreign plants to integrate it into the Island. That is very important to us and we would like to see that continue.”
With Eleuthera being a diverse island, separated by water, Mr. Harrison spoke about different tourism marketing and promotion strategies.
“Harbour Island basically has created an identity for itself,” he explained. “Right now, we’ve pretty much separated the marketing of Harbour Island from the mainland Eleuthera. Harbour Island has always been the backbone of the economy of Eleuthera by creating job opportunities. It’s always had the more upscale properties so at the end of the day the rich and famous, everybody knows Harbour Island.”
He said that the Ministry is trying to bring that kind of recognition to the mainland with products like The Cove.
In South Eleuthera, Mr. Harrison said the craft centre on Princess Cays, is being promoted for the cruise ships when in port. “We want to create additional activities with live bands to attract people. The numbers are really growing, the vendors are making more money.”
By LINDSAY THOMPSON, Bahamas Information Services
