Moving to Roatan to start business

If I'm not mistaken, Honduras has import duties up to 20% plus sales tax of 15% or 18%, the sum of the two you‘ll have to pay when importing.  When comparing, you might also want to check prices for Jetskis on the mainland (La Ceiba or San Pedro Sula).

There are only a couple of hotels on West Bay, what I would do is travel to Roatan and talk to the managers or owners in person. I have no idea what it takes to set up shop on the beach, and even if legally possible you might want to have some sort of arrangement with the hotel(s). If there is another jetski business on West Bay which is paying kickbacks  to the hotels (or anyone else), I‘d say you are risking your life by competing with them. While you are staying on Roatan, you can also check out properties. If you want to buy land to build on, common advice is to be on site throught the construction, as otherwise your house will never finish (beeing built while you are there and built back while you are gone).

While I would say the same as above to any watersport business, here is my personal wish for jetski: Unless they are battery driven, they should be illegal. But this is just my personal opinion.

“Risking my life” can you explain please I've been there as a tourist but I know living and visiting you get a different level of respect

Jet skis on Roatan are mostly operated by locals on West Bay Beach. Suggest you join Ask Anything Roatan FB group. Ask your question for more details.

Stefan, Good idea. Can't write what we all think about noisy 4 wheelers illegality driving on the beach; battery operated jet skis may be an option.

Ana,  what I meant is that even if Roatan is much safer than the mainland (one reason being stricter gun control and more dependency on tourism), that does not necessarily mean that operating a business is without risk. The security guards at the hotels are not there just to impress tourists. Paying someone for murder is in many cases a lot cheaper than a legal dispute. I guess what I was trying to say is that you have to find out what arrangements other, similar businesses have. It seems unlikely that they have to pay for protection on Roatan (something that is very common on the mainland, called „impuesto de guerra“), but you may still have to pay off someone to operate your business safely.

I‘ve only been to Roatan about 10 times as a tourist, so I have no first hand experience. Unless expats with similar businesses are here on this forum, you‘d probably not get the answers you are looking for. I‘d say your best chance is spending some more time there and talking to the owners of similar businesses (also on other beaches) and hotels. But that‘s just my 5 cents.

I keep hearing that crime on Roatan is very much on the rise. Yesterdays killing of Rick Kolinsky, the general manager of Infinity Bay, a large hotel on West End, looks just like a confirmation of that.

I think it is not a good time to start a business on Roatan.

sorry, Infinity is on West Bay, of course. Rick Kolinsky, who was the owner of the hotel, was killed in West End. From the reports I saw it very much looks like an assassination. Maybe he refused paying „impuesto de guerra“, which is what the call business extortion in Honduras.