{"id":39505,"date":"2013-09-20T11:23:46","date_gmt":"2013-09-20T15:23:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/target\/global-casino-company-aims-to-lure-tourists-to-sleepy-bimini-and-not-everyone-is-happy"},"modified":"2013-10-01T10:18:43","modified_gmt":"2013-10-01T14:18:43","slug":"not-everyone-is-happy-about-tourism-explosion-in-bimini","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/2013\/09\/not-everyone-is-happy-about-tourism-explosion-in-bimini","title":{"rendered":"Not Everyone Is Happy About Tourism Explosion in Bimini"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Global<\/a><\/p>\n

Every time a cruise ship docks in Bimini, the population of this tiny archipelago just 80 kilometres off the coast of Miami could nearly double.<\/p>\n

That may be profitable for a place that lives off tourism. But many worry the recent launch of a new cruise line disgorging hundreds of visitors each day could be too much of a good thing.<\/p>\n

The ship is one component of a global casino company’s project to bring unprecedented waves of tourists to Bimini, which has long defied change. Some fear it will destroy a marine environment teeming with fish and coral, and ruin a diving and sport-fishing capital of the world.<\/p>\n

It’s also provoking somewhat of an existential crisis, posing a challenge to Bimini’s identity as a rustic and hard-to-reach getaway, known as a haunt of Ernest Hemingway and the setting for a tryst that ended a U.S. presidential run.<\/p>\n

“Unless you are a fisherman, a diver or a drunk there was no reason to come to Bimini. But they are changing that,” said dive shop operator Neal Watson. “It’s getting to be a different place.”<\/p>\n

Changes are coming fast. Malaysia-based Genting Group is spending at least $300 million on Resorts World Bimini, quickly becoming the largest employer in the cluster of islands and creating sharp new demand for housing. Working in partnership with a Florida developer, the company opened a casino in June, expects to finish a 350-room hotel by Christmas and 50 luxury villas a month later on their 700 acres of North Bimini. The company has plans for shopping, restaurants and nightclubs, is considering a second hotel and is in the process of upgrading the airport to accommodate larger planes.<\/p>\n

“It’s created more jobs, of course, and you know, it is keeping people busy,” said Edith Romer Johnson, who sells lobster pizza at a shop outside the resort. “And the more money we have on the island, the more it goes around.”<\/p>\n

The Bahamian government has welcomed the project, but critics say the benefits come at too great a cost.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Click here to view original web page at www.theprovince.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every time a cruise ship docks in Bimini, the population of this tiny archipelago just 80 kilometres off the coast of Miami could nearly double. And not everyone is happy about that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":39506,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10223285771444175_51037792744":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[414,178,33],"class_list":["post-39505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel","tag-bimini","tag-casino","tag-tourism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}