A year ago the Bahamas Charter Yacht Show drew 80 boats and 180 brokers to Nassau. This January, organizers had fewer than 20 vessels signed up and a major sponsor gone. They pulled the plug. This is part of The Rio Times’ daily coverage of Latin American culture and lifestyle.
The cancellation has rippled well beyond Nassau. The Association of Bahamas Marinas blamed the collapse on new boating fees introduced in mid-2025 and a consolidated 14% VAT on foreign charters, which priced the archipelago out of a fiercely competitive winter market.
Boat traffic fell about 40%, marina occupancy dropped 20-25%, and two major charter operators with 30 boats each in the Abacos shut down entirely.
The damage extended far beyond marina slips. For bartenders, taxi drivers, and provisioning companies across the Family Islands, fewer yachts meant fewer tips and fewer customers.
Deputy Prime Minister Chester Cooper announced a government review of boating fees and entry protocols, but industry sources say the winter season was already lost. The pattern is not new. In 1990, the United States imposed a 10% luxury tax on boats over $100,000.
Bahamas Tax Lesson For Colombia
Yacht sales plunged 77%, over 25,000 boatbuilding jobs vanished, and the tax actually cost the government money — Congress repealed it by 1993. Canada, New Zealand, Italy, and Spain all tried and abandoned comparable levies after similar damage.
Colombia’s Asonáutica sees the Bahamas as a cautionary tale with a silver lining. Meylin Carballo Salguedo, the association’s new director, argued that every yacht generates a web of specialized employment, maintenance, fuel, provisions, and tourism spending that dwarfs any single tax receipt.
When registration, navigation, or docking costs rise without a holistic strategy, she said, boats simply move to the next flag. For Colombia, the message is pointed. The country has coastline on two oceans, proximity to the Panama Canal, and growing marina infrastructure in Cartagena and Santa Marta.
If the regulatory framework streamlines permits and keeps costs competitive, Asonáutica argues, displaced yachts looking for a Caribbean home could land there. The Bahamas’ empty slips are someone else’s opportunity — provided the lesson about what killed them is not ignored.
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