Thousands of TCI workers languish as gov’t fights private resort
While the BVI government faces public criticism for its refusal to reopen the territory’s borders before December 1, some residents of another British Overseas Territory — the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) — are unable to work even though their borders are open to visitors.
This is because of a major standoff between the TCI government and its largest private-sector employer, Beaches Resorts. The family-oriented resort employs more than two thousand residents in the Overseas Territory.
Beaches has pushed back its October 14 reopening date because of an ongoing tax dispute with the government. In a release to the TCI Sun Newspaper, Beaches Resorts said their team has been doing everything humanly possible to have these long-outstanding matters resolved with the TCI government.
“Unfortunately, we must admit that this is the most ineffective government we have ever had to deal with when compared to the other jurisdictions in which we operate. Our Development Agreement(s) and other legally-binding written commitments have been disregarded and trampled on,” the company said.
In response, the TCI government has rebuffed the allegations made by Beaches Resorts and refuses to back down.
In a release, the TCI government said “by law, it remains that there has been an underpayment of taxes whether intentional or not. But it is also the case that Beaches is the cause of the current delay in resolving the proceedings.”
TCI recession
The spat between the two entities has put further strain on the TCI economy which the government declared has entered a recession.
The postponement of Beaches’ reopening is likely to other hotels that were planning their reopening to coincide with that resort. This is because the hotels depend on the airlift which Beaches offers. This means flights to TCI are heavily dependent on the number of Beaches guests travelling to the territory.
Another group being affected is industry workers such as vendors and taxi operators who depend on the tourism industry for income.
BVI digs itself out of multi-million-dollar deficit
If the hotels remain closed, the TCI government will continue to experience decreasing revenues from taxes, which is one of the main sources of revenue.
While that overseas territory continues to face these major economic difficulties, Premier Andrew Fahie announced on Thursday the BVI has significantly reduced the territory’s $57 million budget deficit and will have “a zero deficit by the end of the year”.
He credits his administration handling of the territory’s strained revenue streams for deficit cut-down.
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Mr Premier you and your Government deserve a lot of credit and how u handled the covid 19 situation. You just need to drop this independence talk and move ahead.
He wants only to move from being dependent on the Brits to the Chinese. The Chinese have promised him vast domes of money for his pocket just like Hunter and Joe Biden. The Chinese seek a foothold in the Caribbean and the Foy is their man. Do some investigation people and you’ll see this is true. On the plus side you might get a decent Chinese restaurant or 2. Lmfao
What is your grip with the Chinese people? I got none.
We had visa free travel from China. As a tourist & financial services hotspot building connections with other nations is beneficial. Protect the workforce and we are set.
No issue with the Chinese and their food. I do have a problem with the Chinese Communist government which looks to infiltrate their ways in every corner of the world. Your corner is next so beware. When you have a money hungry leader it makes it quite easy for the Chinese. Guess what you have!!!
And how exactly has the Foy reduced the $57 mil deficient. Did he find a chest of gold? Nothing has changed. Same government workers getting paid, same outlay of money but the money coming in has drastically been reduced both in tourism and financial sectors. It would be nice in lieu of blowing smoke in the peoples eyes that he shows the people the numbers and how exactly he accomplished this miracle. He’s a l**r and should be th**** out of the Territory for what he has done.
Please explain what he has done. No one is perfect but the Fahie government did very well for this country. This Covid damaged and continue to damage economies globaly so we will not allow anybody to use it to score political points.
The Foy has done nothing for the Territory except shut it away while it slowly dies. Instead of palm trees and land purchases money should have been spent to take the BVI medical sector out of the Stone Age. Other countries are dealing with Covid and even like the US with increases however the survival rate is over 90%. Thus, deaths have decreased dramatically. Based on this countries have opened up with people taking all the protection they can and their lives continue. The Foy has kept you locked away hoping Covid will disappear. It’s is not. At least until one of the countries you so despise has a vaccine that they share with your ignorant a**es. Please keep yourselves locked away and poor. Then complain again that you have nothing because of slavery.
President Trump says all kind of lies and nonsense fooling the people and sadly some of them believe it ….
Please explain what he has done. No one is perfect but the Fahie government did very well for this country. This Covid damaged and continue to damage economies globaly so we will not allow anybody to use it to score political points.
While this government acted to shutdown. which from all accounts should be a last resort measure, from all accounts they have no plan to effectively reopen the economy. Please show us the plan!!!
Give the government a break. They been elected less than two years.
Doing business with CCP China at any cost is a disastrous mistake…they are like the devil once house give them a foothold in its hell to get the out…maybe a democratic China but not CCP China. Recalibrate Fahie and LEAVE that mess alone!