TCI is most attractive for investments in the Caribbean, Baker Tilly Survey reveals

By Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer

#TurksandCaicos, June 6, 2022 – The TCI won’t have to look very far to find money for tourism initiatives because Hospitality Investors have listed the Turks and Caicos as one of their top picks for new financing. The information was shared by the 2022 Baker Tilly Caribbean Hospitality Financing Survey which collects responses from potential investors including large banks and private individuals primed to push money into the tourism sector.

Countries for new financing must be nominated, of the 17 countries nominated; the Turks and Caicos was one of the 11 countries nominated by both banks and private investors.

In terms of the top countries, banks said they would finance, a whopping 10% of banks reached for the Turks and Caicos putting them on par with tourism stalwarts Aruba, the Bahamas, Curaçao, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica.

Even better, the Turks and Caicos was leagues ahead of the pack when it came to non-bank financing. The vast majority (almost 35%) of non-bank financiers threw their support behind the Turks and Caicos. Its closest competitor for non-bank financing was the Bahamas at under 15 percent. None of the other nominated countries breached the 10 percent mark.

Respondents to the poll cited several reasons for their choice including “knowledge of the (TCI) market and growth prospects” and The “Bahamas and TCI proximity to the US and US currency.”

Responding to the pool listed one significant permanent change caused by the COVID-19 pandemic “lenders are much less afraid of the Caribbean region.”

Last year’s survey found approximately half of respondents believed it was becoming more difficult to conduct business in the Caribbean that is a huge difference this year as the sentiment is that the Caribbean will recover faster than ever.