The Bahamas' Baha Mar: Rescuing the Mega-Resort from Bankruptcy

Back in the early 2000s, the Bahamian government had a burning problem to solve — the nation’s plunging GDP. By the end of 2001, its real GDP growth had receded  from 5% (in 2000) to 1.5%. As tourism accounts for more than 60% of the Bahamian national GDP, building a luxurious resort to attract more American tourists emerged as a natural choice for Perry Christie, the then prime minister. Hence, plans for the Baha Mar resort took shape. It was to be the most ambitious mega-resort project ever undertaken in the Caribbean island country. This case features the development of Baha Mar, and the twists and turns during project development that have spanned over 15 years. The case also examines the decision-making process of the government and Prime Minister Christie — What went wrong during development? What could have prevented the issues that arose? And what should be done now?