Government is today set to announce a developer has been signed up for the old Club Med site in St George’s.

Tourism Minister Shawn Crockwell is slated to make a St George’s tourism announcement in the House of Assembly this morning.

And it is thought it will involve the former hotel site, which has lain unused for years since Club Med pulled out of Bermuda in the 1980s.

The site could also become the home of the Island’s first casino, if legislation allowing gambling in Bermuda is passed as expected next month.

Premier Michael Dunkley yesterday declined to comment on the specifics of the announcement.

But he said: “There will be a big announcement that has great potential for Bermuda going forward.

“I think people are going to see, in spite of some of the clouds of negativity we have seen over the past couple of weeks, the work of Government has still gone on and progress has been made.”

Mr Dunkley added: I’m just excited to hear the Ministerial statement in the House when he reads it out.”

And he said: “People need to understand how we get here because a lot of people think you just go and find somebody.

“There was a tourism summit last summer and we had investors from all over the world who came to the table and talked to us about what they thought Bermuda needed to attract people, what type of facilities Bermuda needed.

“Out of that, the request for proposals was put together for the East End facility and we’ve worked through that process.

“The Minister for Tourism Mr Crockwell today must feel tremendously satisfied that he’s in this position.”

Mr Crockwell also declined to comment on details of the deal.

But he said: “I’m very excited we can make this announcement despite what’s been going on, we’ve been hard at work and I think it’s going to be a very exciting announcement.”

St George’s North MP Kenny Bascome, a former Mayor of the Old Town, said: “St George’s is the jewel of Bermuda. There are a number of small entrepreneurs that have opened in St George’s — they must have some kind of vision that something is going to happen.

“I hope things work out to allow them to be successful.”

The former hotel lay derelict for 20 years until the building was demolished with explosives in 2008 and the site cleared.