Legislation to assist the renovation and reopening of the Elbow Beach Hotel property passed with broad support in the House of Assembly yesterday.

Owen Darrell, the Minister of Tourism, Transport, Culture and Sport, said the Loren (Pink Beach and Elbow Beach) Act would offer tax and customs duty relief to aid the redevelopment of the Paget site.

Mr Darrell told MPs the project would offer a “transformational opportunity” for the tourism industry, creating employment for Bermudians while bringing back an historic hotel property.

“The iconic Elbow Beach opened in 1908 as just a few cottages and was the first hotel built on the beach in Bermuda,” he said.

“Since that time, the hotel has played an integral part in the development of tourism.

“From college weeks to honeymoons and family vacations, the Elbow Beach has seen it all.”

While the property closed its doors in 2020, The Loren Group announced in April that they had purchased the resort to redevelop it.

Mr Darrell said the project would include a new hotel block with 80 designated keys, along with a ten cottage units, 30 villa units and a 15-key estate home inventory.

The project would also include a restaurant and gastropub, the reopening of Mickeys, a food truck to service the eastern end of Elbow Beach, spa facilities and both tennis and pickleball courts.

He said that the Loren hotel had become a “niche success story” in Bermuda, but acknowledged that hotel development was a challenging and expensive task everywhere.

“In Bermuda, we struggle with cost of materials, we struggle with the cost of labour and we struggle with the cost of construction,” Mr Darrell said.

“To compete, jurisdictions have attempted to mitigate the cost of hotel development by providing developers with incentives that achieve a balance between the national economic interests and the revenues that might otherwise accrue to the public purse.”

He said that the Loren received a tourism investment order in January 2022 granting five years of relief to the hotel operators.

However, he said a scenario in which the developer planned to run two properties effectively as a single hotel in two locations — a model successful elsewhere — would require changes.

Mr Darrell said that the legislation would repeal the existing tourism investment order to grant similar relief to both locations, while also including requirements for Bermudian employment at the property and management training programmes for Bermudians.

Work on the Elbow Beach property will also need to be completed within five years of the Act coming into effect.

Dwayne Robinson, the Shadow Minister of Tourism, Culture and Transport, said the One Bermuda Alliance were in full support of an order he described as being in the national public interest.

He added that he was happy to see continued reinvestment in the Loren property and looked forward to seeing Elbow Beach come to fruition.

The House also voted to approve tourism orders for Navigate Drone Light Shows and Odyssey Commercial Charter Yacht.

Mr Darrell said Navigate Ltd was seeking full customs duty relief for five years to support its drone shows, which would create an “unforgettable visual experience” using 125 drones.

Odyssey Charters Ltd sought five years of customs duty relief for their operation, which will use a luxury power boat to offer visitors tours and excursions such as sunset cruises with dinners and Bermuda-themed cocktails.

Mr Robinson shared the OBA’s support for the orders, stating that they would help to improve the island’s tourism product while supporting local entrepreneurs.