TCI News
PNP Opposition slams leadership of PDM, charges Government with victimization and inefficiency
Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands – March 22, 2018 – The 15-month old PDM Government is coming under fire this week by the Opposition PNP which is critical of the administration’s reaction to hurricane damages caused by two major storms in September and of its inability to deliver on its election promise of ‘change’.
“One would expect that the PDM would have followed through on the plans that they presented to this country in their Change Document, unfortunately the only change that they have made clear and pronounced, is their intention to change the time and if we know what is happening in Florida, there is a bill before the legislature which is now on its way to Washington, which will be rubber-stamped which will actually set the time in Florida at the same time that we currently have. So that change and every other attempt to change has been regressive.”
Opposition Leader for the Progressive National Party, Washington Misick, during a press conference on Tuesday lambasted the leadership style of the Premier, Sharlene Robinson and pointed to a missing new fiscal policy and desperately needed hurricane recovery plan.
“There has been no attempt to speak to the country about how government intends to raise revenue or make any changes in the revenue system and how it intends to pay for the social services that the country needs. There has been no recovery policy, in terms of after the storm,” Hon Misick continued with, “I haven’t heard of any recovery plan by this government to make sure that people who have been badly impacted by the storm, particularly the most vulnerable among us are properly housed and proper provision is made in the event there is a recurring storm this coming season.”
Misick, who is the former Minister of Finance said that while he is unable to say how large the fiscal year end surplus will be, he can say it will be huge and is due to the lack of spending by the PDM Administration. He pointed out what he believes, and what many believe should have happened since the hurricane.
“We have not heard anything about the construction or the expansion or the identification of new hurricane shelters. We have the elderly and the vulnerable who are still living in appalling conditions with the roofs leaking. We have our schools that haven’t been repaired, we have children who are attempting to learn in deplorable conditions… the lack of their ability to draw down on the money, to spend the money to repair schools to repair government buildings to make sure that the vulnerable is cared for. None of that is happening, the funds have just been building up and so we will close the year at the 31 March, with a huge surplus.”
Mr. Misick called it inefficiency on the part of the PDM Administration to not have spent the money collected from taxpayers.
A strong accusation of victimization was leveled at the People’s Democratic Movement Government and the party’s leader and country’s Premier, Sharlene Robinson was described as autocratic, not democratic.
“The whole approach has been almost to see who they can punish; if it is not the constituency that did not support them it would be a contractor who got a job that they should not have gotten. We see that in the case of the South Caicos (airport) terminal, we see it in the case of the Fish Fry Village development and we see it in the case of others.“ Washington Misick continued, “One of the big problems that we face today is one where we don’t actually have a democratic approach to delivering for the people of these islands because we’ve got a leadership that is positional, in other words, expects everyone to cow-tow to her because of her position and using that to victimize rather than to empower people.”
Hon Washington Misick estimated that it would be impossible for the Turks and Caicos to progress under this style of leadership.
Almost two million visitors recorded in 2025
PROVIDENCIALES, TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS – The Turks and Caicos Islands saw an increase in stayover arrivals in December, seven percent higher than the corresponding period in 2024.
Preliminary data suggests that stay over arrivals by air for the month of December was 66,427 in comparison to 62,610 in December 2024.
From January to December 2025, preliminary visitor arrival numbers totalled 640,754; on par with the number recorded for the same period of 2024.
Stay Over Arrivals YTD December 2024/2025
The first quarter of the calendar year attracted the largest number of arrivals with visitor arrivals three percent higher than the first quarter of 2024. Reduced airlift from the United Kingdom and the United States, most notably the Virgin Atlantic and JetBlue services, was however felt from the second quarter (April to June). As a result, visitor arrivals dropped three percent in the second quarter.
By the third quarter of this year (July to September), geopolitical and economic conditions in the key source markets, namely the United States, led to further contraction of arrivals. In the last quarter of 2025, arrivals were impacted in October due to the passage of Hurricane Melissa but additional airlift from the USA and Canada resulted in an increase in arrivals in November and December.
Mr. Paul Pennicook, Interim CEO Consultant of Experience Turks and Caicos, said December’s increase in stayover arrivals is an encouraging indicator of the sustained interest in the Turks and Caicos Islands as a premier destination.
“While we note and continue to monitor geopolitical shifts that affect us, Experience Turks and Caicos is focused on increasing marketing initiatives in our primary source markets. We have spent the last two years investing in groundwork such as crucial travel advisor training to assist them in selling the destination more effectively. In the next fiscal, we will be building on those initiatives with co-op activities with partners as well as out of home advertising to increase visitation to our destination,” he said.
In Cruise, the preliminary count of passenger arrivals for the month of December 2025 was 129,346, a 22 percent increase over last December. This growth follows the berthing of 11 additional ships in Grand Turk this month.
From January to December, the cruise sector continued to outperform the same period last year, as the 1.3 million total cruise passengers recorded, marks a five percent Year-on-Year increase. 
The cruise sector experienced significant growth in the first quarter of 2025, with passenger arrivals surpassing last quarter by 53 percent. In the second and third quarter however, several cruise lines adjusted their itineraries as vessels were pulled from the fleet or from the Caribbean region, which resulted in fewer passengers.
Arrivals dropped seven percent and 10 percent in the second and third quarters, respectively. Double digit growth was recorded in the last two months of Quarter 4. This growth however, was not sufficient to outweigh the drop in arrivals experienced in October, following the cancellation of cruise calls due to the passage of Hurricane Melissa. Despite the late-quarter rebound, arrivals for the final quarter of 2025 closed six percent below the same period in 2024.
News
The Department of Trade, Industry & Fair Competition to Host Export Readiness Workshop Under the theme “Empowering TCI Businesses for Local Growth and Global Markets.”
Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands – Wednesday, 11 February 2026: The Informal Settlements Unit (ISU) coordinated a multi-agency enforcement operation on Thursday, 29 January 2026, led by the Planning Department, with support from the Crown Land
Unit, the Turks and Caicos Islands Border Force, and security provided by the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force. The operation, carried out at three different locations in Providenciales, formed part of ongoing government efforts to address unauthorised development and illegal occupation of land in accordance with governing legislation.
The operation commenced in Blue Hills, where five Section 58 Enforcement Notices were issued on unauthorised structures identified on Block and Parcel 60502/48.
Enforcement activity then moved to a second location off the Leeward Highway near Caicos Lodge, where six Section 58 Enforcement Notices were issued on additional unauthorised structures on Block and Parcel 60802/66.
The final phase of the operation took place in The Bight, where three unauthorised structures were removed, with all debris cleared from the site in keeping with established safety and environmental protocols.
The Informal Settlements Unit remains committed to working alongside its partner agencies to support lawful development, protect public and private land, and ensure that planning regulations are enforced in a coordinated and transparent manner across the Turks and Caicos Islands. Similar joint operations will continue as part of the Government’s wider strategy to address unauthorised development and informal settlement activity.
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