NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Economist and University of The Bahamas Associate Professor of Economics Rupert Pinder has warned that the continued sale of Bahamian real estate to cruise lines for the development of private island destinations could become the nation’s tourism industry’s “Achilles’ heel,” raising concerns about the long-term sustainability of the practice and its economic benefits to The Bahamas.
Speaking at the 20th Annual Exuma Business Outlook Seminar on Thursday, Pinder raised concerns about the growing presence of cruise line-controlled destinations in The Bahamas, likening the arrangement to a business owner allowing another operator to establish operations inside their own store.
“One of our Achilles’ heels is going to be the extent to which we continue to sell real estate to these cruise ships, these cruise industries,” Pinder said.
“I’ve never seen anything like that before. That’s equivalent to owning a store and asking somebody to come and set up in your shop.”
He added: “I mean, intuitively, it makes no sense, in my view, in terms of long-term sustainability of the economy.”
Pinder’s comments come amid the continued expansion of private cruise destinations in The Bahamas, an increasingly prominent feature of the country’s tourism industry.
The economist suggested that while cruise tourism has helped drive record visitor arrivals, greater attention must be paid to the economic benefits retained within The Bahamas, particularly when compared to the higher-spending stopover market.
“We talk a lot about tourist arrivals, and we keep focusing on cruise passengers,” Pinder said.
“The cruise passengers only give us like about $60 or $70 per head. The stopover visitors are really where the money is, as that’s between $1,700 to $2,100 per head we get for a stopover visitor.”
He noted that The Bahamas has recorded approximately 12.5 million visitors, including more than 10.8 million cruise passengers, but cautioned that rising arrival figures do not necessarily translate into proportionate economic gains.
Pinder pointed to a slight decline in stopover visitors, from approximately 1.7 million to 1.69 million, describing the movement as significant given the substantially higher spending associated with that segment of the market.
“One of the things I found very interesting in doing the research for this presentation is that we’ve actually had a slight decline in stopover visitors,” he said.
“We went from about 1.7 million visitors to 1.69 million, and that may not seem significant.”
He stressed that the economic contribution of visitors should be central to discussions about tourism performance, rather than focusing primarily on headline arrival figures.
Using the example of customers entering a restaurant without purchasing anything, Pinder argued that an increase in foot traffic means little if it does not generate corresponding revenue.
“That means absolutely nothing to the extent to which people are not spending money. They’ve just come through your door,” he said.
“It’s the same thing with respect to the cruise passengers. The money is with the stopover.”
The economist also raised concerns about the availability of tourism expenditure statistics, arguing that the absence of publicly accessible spending data makes it difficult to properly assess the industry’s performance.
He noted that while visitor arrival figures are regularly reported, tourism expenditure data has not appeared in the Central Bank’s Quarterly Statistical Digest for several years.
“One of the things that you’ll find is that for the last four years we have not been reporting tourism expenditure numbers,” Pinder said.
“We have arrivals, but no numbers with respect to expenditures. You need to have that level of visibility so that people can hold people accountable, because that is how you’re going to measure performance.”
Turning his attention to Exuma, Pinder also expressed concern about the limited availability of island-specific economic data, suggesting that the absence of detailed reporting could obscure the true contribution of Family Island economies.
He noted that economic statistics frequently distinguish New Providence and Grand Bahama while grouping other islands under the broad category of the “rest of The Bahamas.”
“If you want to track what is happening in these islands, you have to report. You have to make the data readily available, because that is how you’re going to measure performance,” he said.
Pinder referenced figures suggesting that Exuma’s gross domestic product stood at approximately $235 million in 2024, representing roughly 1.4 percent of national GDP, although he questioned whether that figure adequately reflected the island’s economic activity.
“To me, that seemed like a very, very low number,” he said.
He argued that improved data collection and reporting would allow policymakers and investors to better assess the performance and development potential of islands such as Exuma, Abaco and Eleuthera.
Despite his concerns about cruise tourism, Pinder maintained that tourism would remain the country’s dominant economic sector for the foreseeable future.
“Tourism is our business, and for me, it will remain our business for the foreseeable future, notwithstanding some of the other conversations about diversification,” he said.
However, he suggested that greater diversification could occur within the tourism sector itself, particularly through the development of individual Family Islands as distinct destinations with their own economic opportunities.
“Each of these major inhabited islands has an opportunity to be a destination in and of itself,” he said.
He explained that developing stronger island economies could create opportunities for Bahamian-owned small and medium-sized enterprises, including businesses providing food, laundry and other services to tourism properties.
Pinder also called for greater circulation of money within the domestic economy, arguing that more financing should be directed toward supporting local entrepreneurs.
“From a policy standpoint, we really have to put our heads together and find ways to put that money into circulation to the extent to which it can fund the overall expansion of the economy, particularly in terms of helping small and medium-sized enterprises,” he said.
The economist further identified land reform, infrastructure investment and climate resilience as important priorities for sustainable economic development.
He questioned why The Bahamas continues to experience housing and land pressures despite its relatively low population density, while expressing concern about the protection of property ownership.
“How can you talk about land as a source of investment if you don’t have protection of ownership?” Pinder asked.
He also suggested that greater public infrastructure investment was necessary, particularly as the government celebrates its recently announced fiscal surplus.
“Today, for example, we talk about a surplus, and I think that’s the headline in the newspaper, but yet I’m driving on roads and I feel like I’m dropping in a ditch,” he said.
Pinder concluded that The Bahamas must assess its economic performance against its own potential rather than simply comparing itself with other Caribbean economies.
He maintained that stronger policies, improved economic reporting and greater Bahamian participation in the economy would be essential to ensuring that tourism growth translates into sustainable national development.