TCI Ranks High in BakerTilly Investor Report

By Dana Malcolm 

Staff Writer 

#TurksandCaicos, June 5, 2023 – The Turks and Caicos is the Caribbean country most interesting for investment in the Caribbean to non-bank financers according to data from the Baker Tilly Caribbean Hospitality Financing Survey 2022.

The survey measures how willing Banks and non-banking financial institutions are to pump money into tourism projects across the region. Without their investment the region would not be nearly as developed.

Confidence levels from financial institutions in tourism investment for 2022 were higher than they had ever been in the history of the survey until the March 2023 banking crises in the US eroded much of that leading to a 10 percent drop, according to the report.

Regardless, the TCI was in the top three countries that banks were willing to finance investment in and the top country that non-banks wanted to spend their money in. Representatives from the institutions gave varying reasons for their choices.

“Aruba, Turks & Caicos, Curacao – known markets with good performance.” one said

“Turks & Caicos: Airlift, strong propensity to second homeownership by North American &

European buyers. Lots of high net-worth capital in the market.” said another

The country’s luxury appeal was also a factor “Turks and Caicos, Cayman, Bahamas – Upscale markets with proximity to the States that largely cater to those that have the ability to travel/ spend regardless of the plight of the world economy,” said another representative.

“Turks & Caicos – The most desirable emerging real estate market,” gushed another.

In terms of where institutions are willing to spend their cash in the immediate future (the next 12 months) the TCI was once again high on the list. Comments included:

“Resorts, Aruba & TCI.”

“New Hotels, New Condo Developments. Barbados, Guyana, TCI, Aruba, St Maarten.”

“New projects based on villa development, as this is booming in Turks & Caicos.”

“Real Estate – Turks & Caicos, Bahamas, Jamaica in that order.”

The Government has indicated that there is over a billion dollars in investments in the pipeline for the Turks and Caicos’ tourism industry over the next five to six years.