Freeport

Freeport, town, southwestern shore of Grand Bahama Island, The Bahamas, West Indies.

In 1955 the colonial Bahamian government entered into the so-called Hawksbill Creek Agreement with the newly created Grand Bahama Port Authority Limited (headed by an American lumber financier, Wallace Groves). The Port Authority was pledged to plan, construct, and administer a port area (Freeport) and to license businesses and industries therein in exchange for various tax exemptions and privileges for 99 years. (Subsequent amendments revised the prerogatives of the Port Authority, but it still remains in force.) So successful was the venture that the population of Freeport, 150 persons in 1956, grew dramatically in succeeding decades; the town and neighbouring resorts now draw hundreds of thousands of tourists each year. Freeport is the site of hotels, golf courses, developed beaches, one of the world’s largest casinos, and the International Bazaar, which houses a variety of exotic duty-free shops. Freeport is also the location of a giant container transshipment port, of hotels, and of banks catering to foreign financial interests. Pop. (2006 est.) 47,100.