• Marina chief optimistic any ‘kinks’ sorted before ‘high season’

• Says summer 2022’s performance ‘spot on’ with pre-COVID

• Fuel price stabilisation to aid ‘positive’ winter going into 2023

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

[email protected]

The Association of Bahamas Marinas (ABM) president yesterday voiced optimism that any “kinks” with VAT’s imposition on yacht charter fees will be resolved before “high season” after a summer that was “spot on” with pre-COVID volumes.

Joe Dargavage, who is also managing partner of Harbour Island’s Romora Bay Resort & Marina, told Tribune Business there was “plenty of time” to work through the 10 percent levy’s implementation and send “a very positive message out to the worldwide yacht charter community” ahead of the peak season’s mid-December start.

Disclosing that the ABM was working with the relevant government ministries and agencies, as well as the private sector, to ensure the process went smoothly, he said: “We continue to work with the charter industry as we all better understand the roll-out of the VAT tax. 

“That continues to be a work in progress, but the ABM, the Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Finance, as we work through the roll-out we hope by the time we get into the high charter season all the kinks will be worked out of the process…