Negotiations for the sale of the Grand Lucayan Resort have fallen nearly six weeks behind as both sides were distracted by Hurricane Dorian, according to Minister of Tourism Dionisio D’Aguilar.

Now that the country is in recovery mode, talks have resumed.

“Meetings are ongoing as we get down to the crunch time, as we look over the terms of the arrangement, as we look over the heads of agreement it becomes very intense.  A lot of meetings go on and then ultimately it comes up to the ministers and then to the Cabinet to approve,” D’Aguilar said yesterday.  

“I understand that certainly at the technical level, the negotiations are going very well and then the policy and decisions will be brought to Cabinet and we will make decisions on that.  But we’re very anxious for this to happen, so I remain very optimistic.”       

The government purchased the beleaguered hotel last August for $65 million. The plan was to resell it as soon as possible.

In April, the government signed a letter of intent with Royal Caribbean International and the ITM group to purchase the resort along with the redevelopment of the Freeport Harbour.