The Caribbean second-home market is slowly beginning to pick up, according to international experts.

Admitting that there is not much in the way of data to support this argument, Lorne Bassel, president and chief executive officer of Crave Real Estate/Lubert Adler–a development, investment and consulting company–says anecdotal evidence would bear him out.

“Inventory is being bought up in the primary resorts and the inventory that has been replacing that is starting to disappear, so that’s a good thing,” he said. “Anecdotally, we are starting to see smaller projects come back.”

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“The Caribbean is the world’s best known, unowned brand,”?said Minister of Tourism and Aviation Vincent Vanderpool Wallace Thursday during a panel discussion at the HVS Caribbean Hotel Investment Conference and Operations Summit (CHICOS) held in Nassau. He went on to say that the region is moving to not only own, but also boost its profile.

According to Vanderpool Wallace, the Caribbean Tourism Development Company (CTDC)–the marketing and business development unit owned equally by the Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA) and the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO)–is developing the “best website that has ever been made for the Caribbean.”

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Critical though it is, the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI) is not a quick fix for the many security challenges facing Caribbean countries and the United States, said Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham at the opening of the second annual Caribbean-United States Security Cooperation Dialogue Thursday.

The Bahamas is the first Caribbean country to host the dialogue–one of the most effective means of sharing knowledge and experience on threats and challenges faced by the region.

The matters being covered at the meeting include: firearms controls, prison reform, juvenile justice and greater public and private sector and civil society cooperation.

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November is Caribbean Tourism Month and members of The Bahamas’ tourist industry has organized a series of events designed to highlight the importance of the sector and bring more tourism dollars to the islands.

Tourism is the largest industry in The Bahamas and is responsible for around 60 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). In 2010, the country welcomed just over 5 million visitors.

Activities this month will include competitions and promotions; talks in schools and churches about the importance of tourism and events featuring industry leaders.

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NASSAU, The Bahamas – Minister of National Security, Tommy Turnquest welcomed United States Secretary for Homeland Security Janet Napolitano to New Providence late yesterday afternoon (pictured) ahead of the Second Caribbean-US Security Cooperation Dialogue, which opens in New Providence this morning.

The dialogue is a high-level meeting that will involve Ministers of National Security from several Caribbean Community (CARICOM) nations, Secretary Napolitano, senior government officials from the Dominican Republic, and heads of delegates from CARICOM nations.

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Nov. 9/11 (Reuters) – An acceleration in the pace of U.S. economic growth in the second half of this year is expected to ebb as 2012 gets underway, although the odds of another recession have receded to one-in-four, a Reuters poll showed on Wednesday.

Encouraged by a recent pick-up in economic data, the consensus from more than 60 respondents showed a better view on the final three months of the year and 2011 overall.

But the pace of is expected to wane from an annualized 2.5 percent in the third quarter, and growth is not expected to get back to that rate again until the final quarter of next year.

More fiscal restraint, uncertainty surrounding the euro zone sovereign debt crisis and lackluster consumer sentiment and spending are all seen taking some of the steam out of growth early next year.

This is an excerpt from Reuters as it appeared on November 9, 2011. For updates or to read the current version of this post in its entirety, please click here.

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Nassau, The Bahamas – Investors in small hotels stand to benefit from the profitability of energy efficient architectural design and other environment-friendly practices, according to a recently published report.

Under the Inter-American Development Bank Technical Assistance project, German consulting firm Fichtner conducted a series of audits on the residential, hotel and public sector during 2009/2010, the findings of which were published in the report Promoting Sustainable Energy in The Bahamas.

The Bahamas Hotel Association worked closely with the consultant in identifying 16 hotels in the Family Islands and New Providence varying in size from approximately 50 rooms to more than 350 rooms. Fichtner looked at several indicators on a per rented room basis, such as energy consumption and costs, and electricity consumption and costs.

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The existing mega-resort Atlantis Paradise Island and the new $3.4 billion Baha Mar resort should be able to coexist once there is adequate airlift to the country, according to Atlantis operator Kerzner International Bahamas.

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Bookings at The Bahamas’ largest resort–Atlantis Paradise Island–continue to climb year on year, president and managing director of Kerzner International Bahamas George Markantonis announced Monday.

“Bookings continue to be strong,”?he said at a press event yesterday. “The good news is that we had an excellent fall season.”

The positive turnaround is due to the air credit rebates offered by the government to sweeten the pot on hotel packages.

“We’ve been able to combine the fourth night free programme that we offer with the air credit programme and we’ve seen very strong bookings,”?said Markantonis.

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NASSAU, Bahamas. Nov. 7/11 – The board of directors of the Bahamas Financial Services Board (BFSB) has named Aliya Allen as the new chief executive officer and executive director effective January 1, 2012.

She succeeds Wendy Warren, who will remain a consultant to BFSB during Allen’s transition into the role as the head of the private-public organization.

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