So far we’ve heard that: Government has provided an SDO for the development of the Grand Atlantic Resort to develop a 220-room hotel with nearly 70 residential units for international buyers as well as a two story retail centre. That Government will amend that to build a scaled down 100-room hotel with 125 low-cost homes [...]
Entries from April 21st, 2009
Grand Atlantic Questions
April 21st, 2009 · Comments Off · Development, Tourism
Tags:Grand Atlantic·SDO
That’s What Friends Are For
April 20th, 2009 · 2 Comments · Bermuda Politics, Media
The Premier has once again come out blasting the UK’s intervention in the Turks & Caicos Islands as “unusually harsh and heavy-handed”. Ewart Brown said the dissolution of the British Overseas Territory’s government by the UK was the main subject of discussion at the Fifth Summit of the Americas this weekend. Hmm, well, maybe not. [...]
Tags:Turks & Caicos
National Debt Clock
April 17th, 2009 · Comments Off · Bermuda Politics
Robert Stewart estimates that Bermuda’s debt and deficits per person are around $58,000 and growing. Virtually all of that has been built up over the past 10 years, with a gross acceleration in the last 5 years. Next time you hear about how prudently, prosperously, and punctiliously the Bermudian economy is being managed by the [...]
Tags:Economy
Question
April 16th, 2009 · Comments Off · Tourism
The Government media release says: “The Bermuda Department of Tourism will not renew its contract with Sales Focus, the Ministry of Tourism and Transport announced today. Department of Tourism officials have officially notified the company in accordance with contractual stipulations. The Sales Focus contract is due to expire in about six months.” When Sales Focus [...]
Tags:Sales Focus
Scrambling for Good News
April 16th, 2009 · Comments Off · Reform, Tourism
The Premier released a statement coinciding with the Annual Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Investment Conference being held in Bermuda. It was scrambling to put on a happy face. Describing the creativity used by the Ministry of Tourism to market Bermuda, he says: “Before the Club Med implosion there had never been an implosion in Bermuda.” [...]
Tags:Tuckers Point
Government to Invest in Hotel
April 15th, 2009 · Comments Off · Development, Tourism
Embarrassed by the years of promised new hotel developments that cannot find external funding, Dr. Brown has announced that Government will invest in at least one project using our tax dollars. “I was telling a colleague this morning that such is the challenge of our times that a capitalist problem may require a socialist solution…” [...]
Tags:Grand Atlantic·SDO
Debt per Person
April 14th, 2009 · Comments Off · Bermuda Politics
This letter to the editor by the author of “A Guide to the Economy of Bermuda” deserves some additional emphasis. In addition to the growing debt, Bermuda is racking up some serious deficits in its pension funds. These costs will eventually come home to roost with future generations of Bermudians. Note that his rough analysis [...]
Petty Minister
April 14th, 2009 · Comments Off · Media, Sport
The Royal Gazette reports: Sports Minister Glenn Blakeney flatly rejected being interviewed by The Royal Gazette during Bermuda’s World Cup qualifying play-off match against Oman on Saturday. The Minister, who didn’t attend any of Bermuda’s group games when they were eliminated from the qualifying tournament, turned up just in time to see his son, Glenn [...]
Tags:cricket
Sales UnFocussed
April 13th, 2009 · Comments Off · Tourism
Bermuda is still holding out hope for a “Platinum Period” of tourism, but the news at the luxury end of the market is pretty bleak. This does not bode well for Bermuda. The problem is compounded by the mismanagement of Bermuda’s Ministry of Tourism, which seems hellbent on pursuing “side projects” like the Bermuda Music [...]
Tags:
Grim Scotsman
April 13th, 2009 · Comments Off · Business
The Grim Scotsman has apparently written the overseas territories wagging his finger: The Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has put British overseas tax havens under renewed pressure to end their culture of secrecy within six months or face sanctions. Mr Brown has written to all British Crown dependencies and overseas territories, setting them a September deadline [...]