Grand Bahamian to Serve as Tourism Minister for Bahamas

Neko Grant, a minister of Parliament representing the Lucaya district on Grand Bahama Island, has been sworn in as the new minister of tourism and aviation for the Bahamas by prime minister Hubert Ingraham, who was elected to office May 2.

Mr. Grant replaced Obie Wilchombe, who served as minister of tourism under former prime minister Perry Christie. At the swearing-in ceremony, Ingraham charged Grant with “getting Freeport and Grand Bahama off the tourism back burner and refocusing the drive for a deepening in the local content of our tourism product.”

Grand Bahamian Grant, 56, has represented the constituency of Lucaya in the Bahamas House of Assembly since 1992. He has lived in Freeport for 35 years.

Mr. Grant served as chairman of the Bahamas Housing Commission from 1992 to 1997; chairman of the Bahamas Mortgage Co. from 2000 to 2002, and is group manager, northern Bahamas for the Burns House Group of Companies a British shipping firm.