Well folks, anyone who knows me, knows that I think that we are in a clear and present danger having tourism form 75% of economic activity and offset. I have long campaigned for diversification of the economy.

However, that being said, tourism is all we have. So we must work with what we have until we can make something better.

And there is a glimmer of hope. Tourism rose 3.8% in the last quarter. This is the first uptick in 9 consecutive quarters. Tourism has been falling since we got five million arrivals, and Crisco Butt lied about the decline for two and half years.

Sea arrivals are up by 6.7% and air arrivals are up by 2.9% !!!

There is great economic news as a result of this. In addition, liquid excess reserves rose to over $118 million US Dollars. During the last December of Crisco Butt's reign of terrible, the liquid excess reserves fell to a mere $9 million dollars. The liquid reserves are largely tied to US dollar inflows from tourism.

I am a firm believer that once everyone acknowledges how bad the economy is, it has already turned the corner. I sincerely hope this is so, for the sake of the Bahamas.

You can't ever not be partisan, can't you? Folks have adjusted to the WHTI and are getting their passports as well as travelling again.

Saying Crisco Butt, is divisive... and, its people like you, who divide folks over childish stupidness and petty dumbness like this, taking their mind off of the issues. You are no patriot. Stay in Canada. They deserve you more than we do!

Also, everyone knows we need to diversify, but what you and some of your people were suggesting, is that we should neglect it to force us to do something else. THAT WAS STUPID!

Also, if the reserves are tied to tourism, and the WHTI hindered arrivals as well as a US economic downturn along with it, which never really had a solid upturn after 9-11, how is that a terrible economic reign by Christie and for that to be laid at his feet!?!?

Lastly, you keep saying that "Christie lied about the tourism numbers"...for the last time, and I hope you stop promulgating this lie; "the torusim numbers were fudged, on purpose it seemed, during the last election phase"...After they lost Vander-pool Wallace, no one knew how to calculate what numbers were from what on top of what the WHTI initiative did to the travel psyche.

You have aided an abbetted, with your political childishness and stupidity, in putting folks in this country back- for no reason, other than for your bourgeroise idea and out of touch promotion of unsound policies and social structures, which has nothing to do with what real people in this country are supposed to be doing.

All for partisan power to your people, and nothing to do with the blood of the innocents, who were depending on this country to have continuity in its growth- not a simple power shift, to change nothing but the PM's chair, because you like the red torch over gold and purple and anything good that may not be from the red flame.

This is welcomed news, I have been a little concerned about the lack luster message coming out of the Ministry of Tourism these days… but in some ways something is paying off.

However, I am reading the Central Banks quarterly report and it is a good indication that things are not as bad I feel they are… Having said that … I am charge with this concept of economic diversification and import substitution, in doing so the goal is to inculcate an entrepreneurial spirit among Bahamians
in an effort to break the ever present dependency syndrome.

There are many challenges that beset us and basically it is mindset… we have a population that has the capacity to learn and to do well from blood sweat and tears, but to most Bahamians getting a job is basically our way of life.

But to me the biggest challenge is that this vision is not understood by the leadership… and thus let me say, the leadership stands in the way… so where we are going… no where anytime soon…

Lastly, you keep saying that "Christie lied about the tourism numbers"...for the last time, and I hope you stop promulgating this lie; "the torusim numbers were fudged, on purpose it seemed, during the last election phase"...After they lost Vander-pool Wallace, no one knew how to calculate what numbers were from what on top of what the WHTI initiative did to the travel psyche.




This is a total fabrication and a fantasy on your part.

I know that some areas of the Bahamas are deficient, but no one can count tourism arrival cards? I know of people in the MOT that would lynch you for the specious insult.

VVW's stewardship is beyond reproach as is Vernice Walkine. What is documented is the vicious, outright prevarication, lies, untruths, deceptions and bullshiite by Crisco Butt and Obie on the tourism figures. I have the online media references that as late as February 2007, they were claiming 5 million arrivals, even though they had known for two years that the arrivals had fallen.

Crisco Butt had a reign of economic terror, because he didn't know what the falk he was doing from an economics and finance point of view -- or from any point of view for that matter.

This is a total fabrication and a fantasy on your part.
I know that some areas of the Bahamas are deficient, but no one can count tourism arrival cards? I know of people in the MOT that would lynch you for the specious insult.
The person they should slap is Vernice Walkine and Frank Camitto, for admitting to it. Not me.

VVW's stewardship is beyond reproach as is Vernice Walkine. What is documented is the vicious, outright prevarication, lies, untruths, deceptions and bullshiite by Crisco Butt and Obie on the tourism figures. I have the online media references that as late as February 2007, they were claiming 5 million arrivals, even though they had known for two years that the arrivals had fallen.
They, to my knowledge, has ever vesicated Christie's character. In fact, Walkine got in under PC. So, I don't think there is, was or will be any hatred on either party to this extent you are making it, now.

Are you a Satan worshipper Lurker? You have a really nasty and vile tone. Almost demonic. Prayer's for you.

Crisco Butt had a reign of economic terror, because he didn't know what the falk he was doing from an economics and finance point of view -- or from any point of view for that matter.
He knew allot more than this current administration, who can't seem to make up their mind if the Education Minister, is the Minister of the Economy or vice versa.

James Smith is the former Govenor of the Central Bank who was the imediate past Min of State for Finance. Get a grip, Lurker!

Also, I don't think Christie ever claimed to be an economist, nor a financier. Neither does the current Minister of Finance. However, the figures he was given about the 5 million, were juiced up and this is why it sounded off.

Unless you are saying that they manipulated the MOT number crunchers and the Central Bank number crunchers, I would find it slightly difficult for you to make such claims.

The person they should slap is Vernice Walkine and Frank Camitto, for admitting to it. Not me.
They, to my knowledge, has ever vesicated Christie's character. In fact, Walkine got in under PC. So, I don't think there is, was or will be any hatred on either party to this extent you are making it, now.
Are you a Satan worshipper Lurker? You have a really nasty and vile tone. Almost demonic. Prayer's for you.
He knew allot more than this current administration, who can't seem to make up their mind if the Education Minister, is the Minister of the Economy or vice versa.
James Smith is the former Govenor of the Central Bank who was the imediate past Min of State for Finance. Get a grip, Lurker!
Also, I don't think Christie ever claimed to be an economist, nor a financier. Neither does the current Minister of Finance. However, the figures he was given about the 5 million, were juiced up and this is why it sounded off.
Unless you are saying that they manipulated the MOT number crunchers and the Central Bank number crunchers, I would find it slightly difficult for you to make such claims.

ya lie!!

And it is in the papers and on the web:

http://www.jonesbahamas.com/?c=47&a=11531

Here are the quotes:

"We saw some wonderful numbers in the month of December," Minister Wilchcombe said.

"All in all I think we had one of our great years in tourism again," he said in January.

Making a prediction of his own, Prime Minister Christie in his address at the 16th Annual Bahamas Business Outlook seminar held mid-January indicated that the country had once again exceeded five million visitors in 2006.

So my dear Alien the truth twister -- what part of this do you not understand.

Ohhh, I get it, VVW fed them the wrong numbers. And Vernice was in on it. You can't handle the truth mah beuy -- especially when it comes to your beloved PLP -- Poor Lying Pisspots.

ya lie!!
And it is in the papers and on the web:
http://www.jonesbahamas.com/?c=47&a=11531
Here are the quotes:
"We saw some wonderful numbers in the month of December," Minister Wilchcombe said.
"All in all I think we had one of our great years in tourism again," he said in January.
Does that sound like he [Obie] said 5 million? I can't believe you are carrying this story to the end of the earth and mixing three different people into three different methodologies.

You are quite an individual....lol.....

Making a prediction of his own, Prime Minister Christie in his address at the 16th Annual Bahamas Business Outlook seminar held mid-January indicated that the country had once again exceeded five million visitors in 2006.
So I guess the word "prediction" is a certain definite? I see....even so, as both Walkine and Camito said, their was a controversy on how to calculate the numbers, then. Whether you believe them, for what they said or not, is up to you. I am only telling you, what was said. Both won't lie.


So my dear Alien the truth twister -- what part of this do you not understand.
The Devil is a liar!!!!!
:hammer:


Ohhh, I get it, VVW fed them the wrong numbers. And Vernice was in on it. You can't handle the truth mah beuy -- especially when it comes to your beloved PLP -- Poor Lying Pisspots.
I'm not saying anyone was in on anything. Just that the calculations, were wrong and all parties involved, worked towards tabulating and promoting wrong information. This IS the civil service, Lurker. On top of that, Vanderpool Wallace had a way of doing his own thing. What that was, is still a mystery to many.

So, unless you are saying that the folks at MOT, with Walkine at the head, with Craig at the Central Bank as well as Camito with the Bahamas Hotelier's Association, all conspired to cook up numbers to feed to the political directorate and them actually abetting in all of them doing such a dastardly act, I don't see how you would make a case otherwise from just a simple glitch in the figures....it was fixed.

um, alien?

obie did get a lot of coverage claiming 5m arrivals during his term, which numbers were NOT born out by gary's stats at MOT. for better or worse, he was the messenger. VVW's been gone for a long time.

we DO need to automate our arrivals process a LOT, as it typically takes over a year to calculate arrivals by land and sea .... which in this day and age (esp with the usa's homeland security breathing down our necks) ought to be real-time tabulation.

I am a firm believer that once everyone acknowledges how bad the economy is, it has already turned the corner. I sincerely hope this is so, for the sake of the Bahamas.

This is really great news Lurker! What can we attribute this turnaround to? I felt that with the higher gas/oil prices, food shortages, and since we don't really have the high levels of high-income tourist expenditure that we used to, that we would see a huge dip in tourist numbers. It seems that people are still spending their disposable income travelling. More inmportantly, how can we make it continue?

This is really great news Lurker! What can we attribute this turnaround to? I felt that with the higher gas/oil prices, food shortages, and since we don't really have the high levels of high-income tourist expenditure that we used to, that we would see a huge dip in tourist numbers. It seems that people are still spending their disposable income travelling. More inmportantly, how can we make it continue?

I think that it is the weak American dollar. My friend lives near Cabbage Beach. All he used to hear, was the drawl of Americans. Now he hears a polyglot of languages -- Russian, French Canadian, lot of Brits, lot of Spanish -- European. Interestingly enough, a lot of them come for dolphin encounters, Stuart's Cove snorkelling, feeding the sharks on the Exuma powerboat excursion. There seems to be a common theme -- eco-tourism.

And that vile Crisco Butt and now Hubigetty with their Gawd dam anchor projects. The mangroves are gone in Bimini. Baker's Bay is dead. And that is what the tourists want. SMT. Oh yeah, we need a better Bay Street. ANd Hubigetty, close the web shops.

I think that it is the weak American dollar. My friend lives near Cabbage Beach. All he used to hear, was the drawl of Americans. Now he hears a polyglot of languages -- Russian, French Canadian, lot of Brits, lot of Spanish -- European. Interestingly enough, a lot of them come for dolphin encounters, Stuart's Cove snorkelling, feeding the sharks on the Exuma powerboat excursion. There seems to be a common theme -- eco-tourism.
And that vile Crisco Butt and now Hubigetty with their Gawd dam anchor projects. The mangroves are gone in Bimini. Baker's Bay is dead. And that is what the tourists want. SMT. Oh yeah, we need a better Bay Street. ANd Hubigetty, close the web shops.

How about screw Bay Street for once and let's see if we cant out-market the Family Islands for once. That and national parks is what people want. We can't sell a city that even Bahamians want to get away from. Nassau is only the threshold to Atlantis.

We should be selling the birthplace to discovery, the largest habitat of flamingoes, have toursists discover Red Bays Andros. Why arent these Cruise ships anchored off of some of these other islands?

And why isn't someone studying the Abaconian tourism product, which is filled with heritage tourism and not the attempt at the construction of a Las-Vegas/ Disney/ SixFlags wannabe? THe Bahamas has (or had depending on who you talk to) the position as a top destination becasue we were The Bahamas. It all fell apart when we though a 6 foot man running around in a mouse suit trumped our package.

How about screw Bay Street for once and let's see if we cant out-market the Family Islands for once. That and national parks is what people want. We can't sell a city that even Bahamians want to get away from. Nassau is only the threshold to Atlantis.
We should be selling the birthplace to discovery, the largest habitat of flamingoes, have toursists discover Red Bays Andros. Why arent these Cruise ships anchored off of some of these other islands?
And why isn't someone studying the Abaconian tourism product, which is filled with heritage tourism and not the attempt at the construction of a Las-Vegas/ Disney/ SixFlags wannabe? THe Bahamas has (or had depending on who you talk to) the position as a top destination becasue we were The Bahamas. It all fell apart when we though a 6 foot man running around in a mouse suit trumped our package.


A cruise ship calling at Morgan's Bluff would be more than welcomed in North Andros. However, North Andros needs the proper infrastructure and facilities to accommodate those guests. Off the bat, availabilty of rooms poses a problem.

Proper restaurants, medical facilites, transportation etc are another story.
Try to get a proper meal sit down meal after 4 p.m in North Andros, you will starve unless you get a chicken or conch snack.

Vincent Peet was the former Minister of Financial Services and Investments and is on his second term as the member of Parliament for North Andros.
It is glaringly obvious that he totally forgot to do something about his constituency.

North Andros is one of the few, unexplored virgin islands left as it relates to tourism.

We have Red Bays and the Seminol Indians
Basket Weaving
Small Sponging Industry
Uncle Charlie's Blue Hole
Caves at Morgan's Bluff
Beautiful Beaches
Bonefish flats and fishing
Birdwatching
Wild Boar hunting

ALL THESE THINGS TO DO AND NO TOURIST TO DO IT!

No traffic light, no traffic jams, peace, tranquilty, acres and acres of unexplored pine forest.

I don't care how Elon Moxey say "she wake, she wake"that giant is still sleeping.

um, alien?
obie did get a lot of coverage claiming 5m arrivals during his term, which numbers were NOT born out by gary's stats at MOT. for better or worse, he was the messenger. VVW's been gone for a long time.
we DO need to automate our arrivals process a LOT, as it typically takes over a year to calculate arrivals by land and sea .... which in this day and age (esp with the usa's homeland security breathing down our necks) ought to be real-time tabulation.

Just give me the other half of the story. Lurker always leaves out snipits, to fit in his story. Now, I know there was confusion, when he [VWV] left the Ministry in regards to this whole mess.

I, was willing to give all parties the benefit of the doubt, for not having proper information. But, what is done is done...they were wrong, they got corrected and that's that.

Just give me the other half of the story. Lurker always leaves out snipits, to fit in his story. Now, I know there was confusion, when he [VWV] left the Ministry in regards to this whole mess.
I, was willing to give all parties the benefit of the doubt, for not having proper information. But, what is done is done...they were wrong, they got corrected and that's that.

You lie .. you make things up, and then you believe your own lies.

You are like a potcake on a sun bleached bone -- the meat is gone and you won't give it up.

You latch onto a name, like Vincent Vanderpool Wallace, or Rick Lowe or whoever -- people who you have never met or don't know, or even exchanged a single hi to -- and you pretend to know their motives and their thoughts.

Now I will tell you exactly how the discrepancy came about. When a tourist enters the Bahamas, they require a visitor card. They must surrender the visitor card when leaving. If a ship stops at let's say Port Lucaya, the visitors fill out a card when they come ashore. As they re-embark, they surrender the card.

Now if the ship goes on to Nassau, immigration requests that they fill in another visitor card. This technically creates two cards. However there are procedures in place to vet them. For example the visitor cards have the ship name, the cruise line, the date, and they cross reference it with the ship's itinerary -- which is known and published beforehand to give the shops on Bay Street to capture that business. At one time, Bay Street businesses had the only exemption to cirumvent the Sabbath closure laws.

So the MOT forwards the figures to the politicos. The figures do have the breakdown on the re-entrants in the reports to the Ministry and the politicos. However the figures are falling below the magic 5 million mark. However a simple additions of the re-entrants makes it go over 5 million, so the lying bastid PLPs like Obie and Perry promulgate the lie to cover the fact that their economic stimulus and mythical projects are not working.

Can't you get it through your thick skull, that lies were told, and Vincent Vanderpool Wallace himself saw the figures the same as Crisco Butt and Obie the jailbird thief. Do you not know that VVW is a Harvard grad, and he knew that the politicos were lying, but didn't want to contradict them.

If you can afford it, go to Cafe Matisse. You will see Vincent there when he is not in Barbados, or Tand C. Ask him for yourself. He will look at you as if you are a retard. Counting visitor cards is not magic. However it might be to you if you cannot put two and two together.

It's amazing how you manufacture the truth, stick to it even when it is proven false, and then refuse to budge. But I guess that is how PLPs operate. Don't believe what your own eyes tell you -- drink the Purple KoolAid -- and you have my friend.

I think that it is the weak American dollar. My friend lives near Cabbage Beach. All he used to hear, was the drawl of Americans. Now he hears a polyglot of languages -- Russian, French Canadian, lot of Brits, lot of Spanish -- European. Interestingly enough, a lot of them come for dolphin encounters, Stuart's Cove snorkelling, feeding the sharks on the Exuma powerboat excursion. There seems to be a common theme -- eco-tourism.
And that vile Crisco Butt and now Hubigetty with their Gawd dam anchor projects. The mangroves are gone in Bimini. Baker's Bay is dead. And that is what the tourists want. SMT. Oh yeah, we need a better Bay Street. And Hubigetty, close the web shops.

It's great to see a spike in international, (i.e. European) tourists, but now it's bittersweet that now on a more global scale, people will know how dirty and nasty the place is. This is the time where the Bahamas, especially Nassau needs to shine, so that we can retain these guests. Lurker, how are the web shops having a negative impact for tourism?