While progress is being made on a deal with Canadian development company The Wynn Group to reopen two major resorts on Grand Bahama, The Central Bank of The Bahamas lamented their closure, noting the temporary loss of over 500 rooms on that island.
Memories Grand Bahama and certain parts of the Grand Lucayan have remained closed since the passage of Hurricane Matthew.
In its monthly economic report for May, the regulator states, "Although official tourism sector statistics are not yet available for the year, preliminary information from secondary sources suggests that the industry continued to face challenges in 2017, due in part to the loss of significant hotel capacity in Grand Bahama, which has only been partially compensated by the phased opening of the Baha Mar hotel."
As of June, the occupancy level at Baha Mar was under 25 percent. Nevertheless, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) reported that large capital projects such as Baha Mar are "driving medium-term growth".
"The Baha Mar Casino and Hotel opened on April 21, 2017 with expectations of additional direct jobs, tax revenues and other economic impacts within the next two fiscal periods," the IDB stated.
The IDB added that Baha Mar, along with other large-scale capital projects are being "relied upon to make outstanding contributions to push mid-term GDP growth above one percent".
The Central Bank also indicated that the direction of positive economic activity for the remainder of this year would be hinged on the mega-resort's successful phased opening.
"Expectations are that domestic economic activity will remain only mildly expansionary over the remainder of the year, with the potential for more improvement, as the Baha Mar resort expands its operations," the report states.
"In addition, sustained foreign direct investment projects, and to a lesser extent, hurricane rebuilding activity, are projected to undergird near-term growth in the construction sector."
Meanwhile, data cited by the Central Bank from the Nassau Airport Development Company (NAD), showed a 2.4 percent reduction in visitor traffic, net of domestic departures, in May. However, there was a 3.3 percent increase during the same period last year.
Also, departures to the United States fell by 2.6 percent and non-U.S. international departures contracted by a further one percent, according to the report.
For the first five months of 2017, net passenger departures through NAD fell by 3.4 percent, and travellers to the United States declined by 4.1 percent.
"In a mild offset, non-U.S. international passengers rose marginally, by 0.8 percent, relative to a 6.6 percent reduction in the previous period," the report adds.

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