President of the Association of Bahamas Marinas (ABM) Marques Williams yesterday said the private boat and leisure craft industry is not only trending ahead of 2022, but marginally ahead of 2019's historic numbers.

Despite the positive performance, Williams said persisting concerns continue to bring challenges to the industry.

"We have positive bookings for the rest of the year. To date we are 19 percent ahead of 2022 and just two percent ahead of 2019 arrivals for private vessels," he said.

Williams continued, "Some concerns coming from our out island marinas is insufficient and inconsistent airlift. A lack of a dependable workforce in some of the southern areas is a concern... High operating costs, particularly in regards to energy and rigid insurance policies affecting the year round presence of vessels in The Bahamas."

He said the association continues to press for a simplified online process for foreign boats entering the country.

"As you know our SeaZPass that we had developed has been put on hold for a period of time and we gravely need another alternative, or the SeaZPass to provide to our foreign boats entering our country. We are looking for improved data collection or statistics on the private boat and and pleasure boat industry," Williams added.

"We really need data on it, and we have begun conversations with entities to get an economic impact assessment completed that will give us better guidance for legislation, suggestions and policies for the industry. We have also begun conversations with LGM Maritime Authority to develop career opportunities for Bahamians in private boat and domestic commercial boat activities. We want to spearhead a lot of this activity, drive it, encourage and build up our domestic product."

After participating in three boat shows in recent months, Williams said the excitement level for the country to continue hosting its own show is rising.

"In February we spearheaded the Bahamas Charter Yacht Show and we can say that we are excited about this show. It will now be an annual show. It has far exceeded what we expected. This show was postponed twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and now that we have actually put it on, we can't wait to have it every year. So we have begin that process to look forward to the one next year," he said.

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