The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

Tourism this past week have been promoting Weddings in the Bahamas, 16 actually on 16 different islands. Interesting not a single one celebrated in a church... Nassau alone has 3000 churches! Hmm, Tourism gone secular.

Yesterday was the day...ZNS TV News featured a Gomez family at the British Colonial getting married - Mr Tommy Thompson surely someone could have taken the time to clean the sea weed off the beach?

A good concept spoilt by the lack of professionalism.

Photo-shop the photographs, Mr Thompson, please.

Just checked room rates at Atlantis for this weekend ... the 16 weddings and, of course, the two days of marathon... readers Atlantis, our pride and joy is offering a 60% discount +$250.00 per air ticket support for a four-day stay and many more things free. So even with all these so-called new bed-nights as we constantly hear from MOT creating from events room rates are at the lowest. Maybe someone needs to wake up - tings ain’t Better in The Bahamas?

Why do we continue to degrade Bay Street - allow tourists coming off Junkanno Beach to be shirtless? I am honestly tired of seeing those obese white gentlemen shirtless... ladies in bikinis walking back to their cruise ship. lt says a lot about the type of visitor we are getting.

BEC, from back when your poles on Bay Street need to be inspected and the heavily rusted ones removed. Back when Frank Watson was at tourism they were supposed to have been changed that’s 14 years ago or so.

Remote broadcasts on Bay Street - surely it is against the law to blast that noise to the annoyance of the public? Shop owners, you really think by having that noise you attract customers? Get some parking on Bay, locals will come and shop!

Imagine readers, Montagu MP, Richard Lightbourne brought a young lady from the states to help us clean our beaches! What she found out was always known - our problem is the ministries simply refuse to be proactive and don’t care and we, yes us are so nasty. Just look at any public beach after a holiday – it looks like the city dump.

MOT and retail shop owners wonder why the tourists stay away from Bay Street? Bay Street was once upon a time “royal” - (distinctive’ street - today ugly is more an appropriate word to describe it. Bahamians need to stop using that f...word!

Anyone been down Market Street - there is only one word that describes what is going on there now - market… the ladies selling the counterfeit bags stand in the middle of Market Street and shout their wares to the people walking on Bay it is like a fish market, the police and tourism look the other way. Didn’t we stop the selling of those fake bags from the market because we were breaking some international law? No, as usual we move the selling across the street and close our eyes. Controller of customs - these bags are illegally being allowed into the Bahamas – do ya job, sir.

,LPIA is it ready for Baha Mar? Last time I went through the number of immigration officer desks were inadequate then imagine three-four more planes landing at the same time?

Customs? Only if you wave the visitors through will clearance take place within a reasonable time... at this time when LPIA is busy it takes nearly two hours.

Can’t NAD do something to make the exit area from the terminal to the pickup, taxi, tour car/bus area look like The Bahamas is inviting? At night time this area is dark...add some good lights, NAD.

Now let’s see if anyone at tourism does anything about these legitimate complaints? Business as usual - press conference after conference patting themselves on the back whilst Nassau burns to the ground like BAMSI did.

W THOMPSON

Nassau,

January 18, 2015.