Inappropriate development may cause the Bahamas’ standing as an eco-friendly tourism destination to fall, the director of the Centre for Sustainable Destinations at National Geographic warned yesterday at the Caribbean Hotel Industry Conference.
During his presentation on Sustainable Tourism. Jonathan Tourtellot said that in the last destination scorecard organised by his company in 2003, the Bahamian Family Islands placed 63rd out of 115 popular destinations, based on their environmental stewardship and ability to remain “unspoilt” in the face of mass tourism development.
Mr Tourtellot described the Family Islands rating as average, and said he suspected that the next time they were featured, which could be in 2008, their ratings will go down. He told The Tribune that this was because of what has been perceived as inappropriate tourism development in the Family Islands, particularly on Bimimi.
Mr Tourtellot added that recent criticism also suggested that Abaco has turned into what he described as “a suburb of Florida”, and he pointed to concerns that real estate on the more popular Family Islands was increasingly being priced out of reach for many Bahamians.
The mention of Bimini is a thinly-veiled reference to the controversial Bimini Bay resort project, being developed by RAV Bahamas and its principal, Cuban-American real estate and property entrepreneur, Gerard Capo.
Mr Capo”s Bimini Bay project has frequently had to contend with heavy criticism from Biminites and environmentalists, who have claimed that the project is totally out of proportion to Bimini’s size, population and scale.
In addition, environmentalists have claimed that dredging, excavating and other activities carried out during Bimini Bay’s development have damaged the environment and ecosystem, particularly mangrove swamps and fish breeding grounds.
Mr Capo has consistently refuted criticism of his project, saying environmental reports and assessments have been submitted to the Government, and that none of the critics have ever visited the development to see what is going on first hand.
He said in October 2005 that Bimini Bay would make the island “a real jewel”.
Meanwhile, Mr Tourtellot agreed yesterday with the comments made by former Bahamian tourism director general, Vincent Vanderpool Wallace, earlier in the conference, that there was a place for large scale developments, such as Kerzner International. However, he warned about the sustainability of current Family Island developments.
“New Providence and Grand Bahama have already cast their lots,” Mr Tourtellot said, “but my concern is that that kind of development be contained so it stays on Paradise Island and it stays on Cable Beach, but does not start popping up in places like Bimini and Cat Island.”
Mr Tourtellot said he also had some reservations about the Family Island ‘anchor property’ model, which has been highly touted by the Government as a means of economic development.
“I question that approach,” he said. “It is based on an assumption that you have to have an anchor in order to improve infrastructure, and that is not necessarily true. You can look at other places.
“It is kind of like treating an island like a shopping mall, where you’ve got to have a big department store to anchor the shopping mall. But an island is not a shopping mall; it is a place, and I think rather than a big development, a series of smaller boutique-style hotels with the maximum amount of involvement from local people, which may mean training, is quite possibly a safer way to go because once you have an anchor, how do you complain?”
Mr Tourtellot said he was concerned that once a property had such a large interest on a Family Island, there may not be enough stewardship on that island by the residents and government.
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His comments are likely to reignite debate on the Government’s chosen method for creating sustainable economic development on the Family Islands.
Critics have argued that some of the projects are too large for the island communities being asked to sustain them, and their implementation – as seen with the Emerald Bay resort on Exuma – is changing the character, environment and feel that attracted tourists to such locations in the first place.
By: Cara Brennean, Tribune Business Reporter
