A local businessman says he has the answer to Bermuda’s tourism financing crisis: condo hotels.Owner of Bistro at the Beach and Red restaurants, Rick Olson, said he has bought and sold condos at the luxury Gansevoort Wymara resort in the Turks and Caicos.Most of the inventory is sold but remaining beachfront suites at the 90-room resort, one of the smaller ones in the TCI, range in price from $469,000 to $1.8 million for a three bedroom unit.The resort on Grace Bay Beach offers studio to three-bedroom beachfront condos and five-star amenities and services such as an infinity edge pool and full spa.“Real estate there is just as expensive as Bermuda,” he said, “The main difference is you can rent out your condo after buying it...and there are no restrictions, and there is no land tax or ownership fee, and the stamp duty is less - they amended it to stimulate ownership. The resort has full amenities for guests.”Mr Olson said Government land policies like the 25-percent foreign ownership licence fee puts off overseas buyers.Mr Olson, who still owns units at the Gansevoort and says he gets a good return on investment, said condo hotels could solve Bermuda’s problem of finding financing for new resorts. The condo buyers essentially help to finance the building of the resort. He said more than a dozen condo resorts had been built in the TCI in the last five years, on top of a dozen in the previous five years.The unit owners pay the entire cost for the room and construction does not commence until 35 to 40 percent of units are sold, he said.“I think condo hotels are the way for us to go forward if we want nice, quality properties,” he said. “The TCI model is a good one for Bermuda.”However, one developer we spoke to said the concept may do well in the Caribbean, but the financial model for it here doesn’t work.It is understand that former premier Ewart Brown looked into the concept years ago and permission was granted to at least one developer for a condo resort.But it never got off the ground in time for the real estate boom several years ago, and now the economy is worse.”It is a great way to take the pressure off developers and I agree all the taxes are what is killing (property) sales in Bermuda,” the developer said.However, the source added: “The cost in TCI is half if not a quarter of what ours is to build. The financial model does not work unless the cost can be lowered drastically. It is like selling many less fractionals for the same high price.”