Opinion | Turks and Caicos Is Not Just Provo – Stop Governing Like It Is

In a recent speech to Cabinet, the Premier announced that there would be a halt on development approvals. On the surface, that sounds bold and decisive. In reality, what they meant was a halt on handing out “choice deals” for developers wanting to build in Providenciales. That distinction matters.

Because it exposes something we don’t like to say out loud: the entire focus of this government’s economic thinking – and frankly, several governments before it – is one-sided. Country, economy, tourism, investment… all seen through the eye of one island.

Turks and Caicos is an archipelago.

But we are being governed like a suburb of Grace Bay.

A moratorium that misses the real problem

The stated reason for the halt is that large scale development is outpacing the labour force – from construction workers to hotel staff. That is true. But the response is wrong.

We don’t have “too much development” in Turks and Caicos. We have too much of it kind of development, in one place, serving one model of tourism. Stopping approvals in Provo without a national plan is not strategy. It is a knee jerk reaction dressed up as policy.

If the problem is imbalance, the answer cannot be paralysis. The answer has to be redistribution and redesign.

Twelve-storey boxes on Grace Bay – is that really our vision?

Let’s talk honestly about what is being proposed and built on Grace Bay and elsewhere in Providenciales.

We are told there is a “need” for twelve storey buildings on the beach. Yet the ones proposed already built have zero style, zero flair. They are plain, unadorned boxes – the kind of structures you could drop into any city in the world and no one would know where they are.

We are in the Caribbean. We are supposed to be a luxury destination. We had every right to expect that developers would bring something more tasteful, more artistic, more regionally inspired – the kind of design you see in parts of Asia or Dubai, where architecture is part of the experience, not just a container for it.

Instead, we are approving height and density without demanding beauty, character, or cultural presence in return.

If you are going to fight for twelve storeys on Grace Bay, at least fight for something that looks like it belongs in a world class Caribbean destination, not a generic waterfront anywhere.

Why is everything still about Provo?

Here is the bigger question: why has the focus not been on nudging developers to build in any of the other islands, now that there are better facilities there?

North Caicos, Middle Caicos, South Caicos, Grand Turk – these islands have airports, accommodations, communities, and history. They have people who want to work and people who want to stay on their home island instead of uprooting their lives to come to Provo for a job.

With more development – hotels, marinas, condos, shops, restaurants – built in the other islands, we would see something powerful happen: opportunity would start to live closer to where people are born.

Put plainly, a person born in North, Middle or South Caicos should not have to leave his or her home island just to find work. There should be enough opportunity closer to home. That is what balanced development looks like. That is what real national planning looks like.

It’s not about stopping deals – it’s about moving them

So this is not a matter of “cessation” of deals to build resorts or anything else in Turks and Caicos. It is not about slamming the door on investors.

It is about doing better at encouraging potential investors and developers to build in the islands that need the project more.

If a resort, marina, or mixed use development is going to bring jobs, training, and spin off businesses, why must it always land on Provo first?

Why not South Caicos, where the Minister has already stood in the House of Assembly begging for basic support – buses, road repair, airport parking, regular flights, a developed fishing industry, a proper ferry schedule?

Why not North and Middle Caicos, where there is land, space, and a different kind of beauty that lends itself to quieter, more eco aware tourism?

The moratorium, if it is to mean anything, should be a pause on automatic Provo first thinking – not a pause on development across the entire country.

Development brings more than rooms – it brings systems

When you build in the outer islands, you don’t just get hotel rooms. You get a whole ecosystem.

Flights no longer have to be subsidised by government just to keep a route alive – real demand starts to justify regular service. Local economies get direct revenue from visitors, suppliers, and staff. Multiple ports of entry become viable, and private jets can land in more than one place.

You start to see small businesses emerge: tour operators, restaurants, shops, guides, artisans, service providers. You see young people staying instead of leaving. You see older people able to work part time or seasonally without relocating.

That is what diversification within tourism actually looks like.

Diversification is not just “beyond tourism” – it’s also within tourism

The government once promised to diversify the economy so we would not rely solely on tourism. That has not happened. But even if we accept that tourism will remain the main pillar for now, there is still a huge amount of diversification that can happen within the tourism offering itself.

Not everyone wants a multi storey resort towering above the beach. Not everyone wants golf, water sports, horses, or scuba diving. There is a global market for low impact, high visibility, high net worth tourism: eco aware resorts, wellness retreats, quiet, centering holiday experiences where people come to rest, think, heal, and reconnect.

There is a market for design driven boutique hotels that win awards for service, food, and atmosphere.

We should be creating a serious program – with depth, not just slogans – to research what kinds of resorts and experiences are the best fit for our “other” islands. Then we should be actively courting those brands and operators.

By doing this, Turks and Caicos could start winning awards for Best Hotel, Best Service, Best Experience – the things you have to work to earn – not just “Best Beach,” which nature gave us and nature maintains.

Stop the knee-jerk policy

The pattern is familiar: a crisis or imbalance is discovered, and the response is a blunt instrument. Stop permits. Freeze approvals. Announce a moratorium. That is not governance. That is reaction.

Public policy cannot be a series of knee jerk responses to problems we should have seen coming. We cannot be lazy about this. We have to do the work.

Do the research. Evaluate the pros and cons. Look at labour capacity, infrastructure, environment, and community impact island by island. Develop forward looking solutions instead of temporary stoppages.

We say we want to build for the future. Then we have to act like it.

A halt on development approvals in Providenciales could be the start of something intelligent – a reset, a rebalancing, a new chapter in how we think about tourism and development across the whole archipelago.

But only if we stop governing like TCI is one island with one beach and one way of doing things.

It isn’t. And it never was.