Hon. Dionisio D'aguilar, M.P. Minister of Tourism
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HON. DIONISIO D’AGUILAR, M.P. MINISTER OF TOURISM & AVIATION BUDGET SUBMISSION 6 JUNE 2019 Mr. Speaker, I rise on the behalf of the great people of Freetown to support this third FNM Budget. Mr. Speaker, I must say I was immensely impressed with the Budget presentation of the Minister of Finance. Mr. Speaker, There were no new major taxes, a tweek here and a tweek there, and the Bahamian people were assured of a Government that is honest, transparent, free of scandal that is responsibly managing the economy of The Bahamas in the best interests of the Bahamian people. Yes, there was no new sexy programs like Mortgage Relief, or BAMSI or Carnival which sounded great on paper but when it came to execution, cost the Bahamian people tens of millions of squandered taxpayer money and provided the genesis for the introduction of the dreaded VAT. What Exuma failed to mention is that, after all the failed programs launched by the Christie Davis Hanna Martin Administration, we need a period where the private sector is encouraged to do what it does best and that is grow the economy and create real …… jobs instead of the thousands upon thousands of 2 government jobs that the Bahamian taxpayer could ill afford to support. Mr. Speaker, I humbly ask the Bahamian people, whose hands would you rather trust the future of your children? A PLP government that is full of great promises, that will have big parties and splash out millions upon millions to their friends and supporters for unnecessary, poorly planned projects while bills to the ordinary Bahamians go unpaid .or a FNM ……… government that will manage your money prudently and ensure that you see where your valuable tax payer money is being spent as you move about in your Bahamaland. I heard Exuma go on about $2.5 billion in borrowings under this FNM government and I was surprised at how misleading that statement was. Obviously, if I owe a million dollars and the loan comes due and I roll the loan for another year ..that does NOT …… represent any new borrowings. But may I draw his attention to the Central Bank Reports .yes google is indeed a powerful …… tool and draw his attention to the National …… Debt .everybody can understand that. …… 3 The National Debt, at end of 2012, stood at $5.0 billion and, five years later, at the end of 2017, the National Debt stood at $7.9 billion – an increase of of $2.9 billion or a whopping 58%. And what is so amazing about that staggering increase in the National Debt under the PLP is that it came about despite collecting almost $1 billion in VAT off the backs of the Bahamian people. So, I caution my fellow Bahamians. Don’t get sucked into the PLP vortex about how they have changed. After five years of careful and responsible management of this economy by the FNM, please, please, do NOT let them get their hands back on the cookie jar and run us back up on rocks again. They haven’t changed. They will never change. Just look at who has put their names forward to run for them again. Fred Mitchell, Obie Wilcombe and Leslie Miller! Same ole! Same ole! Mr. Speaker, I have been honoured and humbled to represent the great people of Freetown in this House and I have thrived on the personal relationships that I have forged with my many of constituents as I moved from house to house in my constituency. 4 Mr. Speaker, the constituents of Freetown want what every Bahamians deserves .a decent home, a job …… with a liveable wage and a safe and clean environment to enjoy time with their friends and families. As I move through my constituency, I have come to realize that the needs are the great but the resources are limited. To assist as best as I can, my constituency office remains open daily, Monday to Friday from 9am to 4pm. I have also continued with my Freetown business empowerment programme and I am delighted to report that I have sponsored over 150 would be entrepreneurs through this programme. The constituents have attended various seminars and workshops to help them start and grow their businesses. Most recently, I hosted an accounting seminar for small businesses at Uriah McPhee Primary School on Kemp Road which was very well attended. 5 Mr. Speaker, my jobs assistance program has also been very successful. Basically, I help constituents build their resumes and apply for jobs .online or …… otherwise and I am delighted to report that all that …… have wanted to work have been to able secure employment through this initiative. Mr. Speaker, I have continued to support the young people in Freetown with a weekly after school art programme at the Uriah McPhee Primary School and I have sponsored a number of Freetown constituents to be a part of the Swift Athletic Track Team, all of whom have done remarkably well. While the larger Junkanoo groups continue to achieve success, I continue to steadfastly support the Fancy Dancers Junkanoo Group from Kemp Road and I have been delighted with their success during the Christmas and New Years Day parades. Mr. Speaker, I know that crime, of late, has been of huge concern to the residents of Freetown. My discussions with the Royal Bahamas Police Force has led to a greater presence on the ground and more cameras are being installed to deter would be criminals. 6 But I encourage the young men of Freetown. Please! Settle your differences with your mouth and not with a gun. Killing your friend, your neighbor in the heat of the moment has lasting effects on the children and family of the deceased and will inevitably lead to you being brought before the courts. So, take it easy! Calm things down! And reason, man, reason! Finally, Mr. Speaker, as we move into the new Budget year, I will be directing most of my resources this year into local parks in the community and the building of a community center near the Anne’s Town Clinic. Once again, Mr. Speaker, I am humbled and honoured to represent the good people of Freetown in this place and I promise to remain faithful to their cause! 7 TOURISM Mr. Speaker: I was delighted to see my colleague Minister, the Member for East Grand Bahama, admit last week that The Bahamas continues to be on fire in the tourism sector with a level of performance that has translated into positive economic growth for The Bahamas, which will always remain our number one priority in the Ministry of Tourism. Tourism Performance (2018) Ever since I was appointed the Minister of Tourism, some two short years ago, the Tourism Sector has boomed! The growth in visitor arrivals has been nothing short of exceptional. In fact, I deemed 2018 as a historic year for the Bahamian economy in that 6.6 million foreign visitors made The …… Bahamas their vacation destination the most ……… foreign visitors to come to The Bahamas in any one year ..in the history of this country! In 2017, 6.1 …… million foreign visitors came to The Bahamas .so … 8 almost half a million MORE visitors came to The Bahamas in 2018 versus 2017. Mr. Speaker, if you delve further into the numbers, as I am minded to do given my Accounting background .you will see that The Bahamas was …… firing on all cylinders in its tourism sector in 2018. If one were to look at the cruise stats, The Bahamas received almost 4.9 million cruise passengers or just over 13,000 every single day. Approximately half of those 4.9 million cruisers were on itineraries that made two or three stops in The Bahamas. So, those 4.9 million cruise passengers made 7.3 million visits to various destinations in The Bahamas in 2018 or 20,000 visits every single day. Never in the history of The Bahamas did we receive as many cruise passengers as we did in 2018. And remember, Mr. Speaker, I stopped the payment of any rebates to the cruise companies to bring cruise passengers to Nassau and, guess what, Mr. Speaker, they kept on coming! That should save the taxpayer $12 million a year! It is amazing, Mr. Speaker, what 9 happens when you get business people ..with … sense .running your government! …… But most importantly, Mr. Speaker, our stopover visitor arrivals were off the chain in 2018. Stopover visitors generally come to The Bahamas by air, take a taxi to their hotel, stay 3 to 4 nights in a hotel, shop in our stores, dine in our restaurants, gamble in our casinos and go on an excursion ..touching Bahamians … time and time again. We love cruise passengers .but we love stopover …… passengers even more since our studies reveal that they spend 20 times more that a cruise passenger. So, when I stand here today and say that our stopover passengers grew by over 220,000 in 2018 or a whopping a 16.7% when compared to 2017 Mr. …… Speaker, that is significant! Once again, Mr. Speaker, never in the history of The Bahamas did we have as many stopover visitors as we did in 2018. So, a record in cruise visitors! And now a record in stopover visitors! Now you understand Mr. Speaker why I was named Caribbean Tourism Minister 10 of the Year in 2018. They simply could not pick anyone else! In 2018 .globally, tourism visits increased by 6 …… percent to 1.4 billion visits. So, the world grew by 6 percent and The Bahamas grew by 16.7 percent.