A noted architect and entrepreneur told members of the Rotary Club of Lucaya yesterday that as business owners, they are responsible for finding ways to build or create attractions that would invigorate the tourism product of Grand Bahama.
Citing the current state of the island's tourism sector, Patrick A. Rahming said industry agents are declaring that Grand Bahama is the worst destination in the Caribbean. This opinion, he said, must change if the island's tourism industry is to survive.
Rahming was the latest guest speaker at the club's weekly meeting held every Tuesday at the Ruby Swiss Restaurant.
Known by many as a song writer, singer and poet, Rahming pointed out much focus has been placed on the Grand Bahama Port Auth-ority and little on the requirements of the tourism business. Furthermore, he is certain that no policies has been expressed to build towards an agreed vision for the future of Freeport's resort and tourism business.
"In fact, for the people here, there are more important issues to contemplate than the details of the tourism business. They too are concerned with the health of the Port Authority to worry about the tourism business," Rahming said.
"If your economic fortunes are invested in the harbour, you're on fairly stable ground for the foreseeable future, but if you depend on tourism activity for your future, you should be very worried."
Modern business writers, he said, all agree that where the most attention is placed, that is where growth can be expected. Freeport's attention, he added, is on the business of the Port Authority and its subsidiaries, not the business of tourism.
"For the vast majority of the Freeport populace and for the government, Freeport's primary business is as a tourist destination. Unfortunately, it is a tourist destination only in our imagination," he said. "The business of tourism neither commands the city's attention nor is there any indication of a strategic plan for the development of that business. There was a plan for the building of a tourism business in the original Freeport. It was based upon a themed resort experience, carved out of the pine barrens."
Unfortunately, Rahming says the vision for the businesses of Freeport and the vision of the new City of Freeport were miles apart and the tourism business was left to fend for itself. Or worse, it was left to governments, who one after the other, promised Freeport it would create and sustain a new tourism business.
Describing Freeport as a 'company town,' Rahming noted that its main players have avoided involvement in the development of the business of tourism.
"The unfortunate fact is that the government, while declaring itself responsible, is also looking for someone to develop a strategic direction for tourism and therefore, has had little in the way of strategic leadership to offer its most celebrated colony," he said.
"Thus, Freeport has been left with its dream of a tourism destination disintegrating in front of its eyes, without any real plan to stop the decline. The Port Authority, in the meantime, has focused on the other branch of their original business, the one they can develop with the least interference, the harbour and its related businesses."
Rahming said with Freeport having lost its stand in tourism, there is a need, if its business people want it, to have it back into the tourist destination business.
"By the way if there are those of you who still think you are doing OK in the tourism destination business, I have personally visited Freeport as a tourist and I can confirm that I concur with the reports about your shortcomings. You are the worst destination I have visited. And I say that as your friend," Rahming said.
"The difference between my comments and those simply complaining is that I am here to tell you what to do about it. To tell you, unequivocally, what you need to do if you really want to re-enter the lucrative business of tourism."
Rahming told Rotarians that all tourism related businesses on the island must be fully educated about the basic destination model or the business model for a tourist destination, which comprises the customer, the product and the device that brings them together for profit. He advised that the infrastructure that holds these three together are a decent transportation system, accommodations system and a hospitality infrastructure.
"This model tells us that the centre of any tourism business is the attraction. In what I call the shop of the destination. The attraction is the product on the shelf The extent to which you display your history, mythology, lifestyle or aspects of your place determines how well stocked your shop is. And, how well you stock your shop determines how much business you are capable of doing," he said.
"You have not offered golf as an attraction for years, the single casino no longer measures up as an attraction and fantasy shopping can now be found in any mall worldwide. And what has replaced them? Not much."
Over the past 15 years, Freeport's entire energy has been focused on the activities of the Port Authority. Rahming said the Port is empowered to tell you as a businessman how to do business. They are not however, empowered to tell you what to do.
"What businesses you decide to build is largely up to you. Further, while there is certainly benefit in using their infrastructure, there is no agreement anywhere that stops you from operating outside the Port area," he advised.
"Those are choices you make as businessmen and women. The business of a tourist destination is to provide place-specific experiences to visitors. The device for providing those experiences is called an attraction and there are many types of attractions as there are ideas, but they fit under the five basic categories of retail, event, resort, place and virtual attraction."
As simple as that sounds, Rahming suggested to Rotarians that place-specific experiences is all that is needed to turn the destination business of Freeport around.
"Let me say that again, in another way. If you want to be in the tourism business, the first thing you have got to do is develop attraction. At the moment, you have none," he said. "I was offered two on my recent visit as a tourist; Port Lucaya and the Garden of the Groves. Even if these were credible attractions, they would be a sorry offering for a destination that relies on tourism."
Rahming emphasized that much of the political rhetoric associated with the recovery of Freeport's tourism sector centres around the reopening of hotels or casinos, or on promises of new resort construction. That strategy, he warned, has no chance of succeeding. "None whatsoever," he said.
"Your shop has lost its customers because you have empty shelves. You have no product to sell. In the tourism business, the shelves are filled with place-specific experiences. Packaged as attractions," he said. "As the business community in Freeport, you have both the responsibility and opportunity to create that stock."
He said the primary delivery system for tourism product today fits under entertainment. Tourism, he said, is the most lucrative business on the planet, however, the real opportunities are in the entrepreneurial activity made possible by the creation and operation of attractions.
He added that it takes a long time to establish a brand. For Freeport to make a realistic brand proposition as a tourist destination, he said it must have tourism products to offer. " It must create and develop attractions," he said. |
