The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas suffers a huge leakage of tourism dollars because it has failed to establish strong links to other industries, the Nassau Airport Development Company’s (NAD) chief executive said yesterday.

Vernice Walkine said the Bahamas must “get back to basics” with its tourism offering and improve the visitor experience.

Ms Walkine, the Bahamas’ first female tourism director-general, told the 25th annual Bahamas Business Outlook conference that Bahamians have become “fat and happy” over tourists consistently arriving on this nation’s shores, while failing to deliver a quality product.

“One of the things I want to see before I die is that we are able to use what we produce in the ground to support the tourism industry,” Ms Walkine said.

“Why can we not provide consistent quality food items so that farmers can have a sure market for their products? Why have we been unable to do that? In my almost 40 years in this industry, I still don’t understand why we have not been able to expand the linkages.”

Ms Walkine added: “There is so much leakage. There is a lot of leakage of our US dollars that we derive from tourism. The way to stop the leakage is through the linkages of the sectors.

“Let’s get back to basics, to where we started, where we recognised that what we did well was that we treated people well. We welcomed them and we were honest with them.

“We put in a full day’s work and we acted as though we were glad these people were here. We have become so fat and happy that these people are going to always show up. We don’t even treat each other with respect in the workplace,” the NAD chuef added.

“The hotels are being built, that’s great, but we can’t continue on the path we are going where we act as though these people are going to show up no matter how badly we treat them.

“We ignore them, we don’t serve them well and we overcharge them. We have to stop it. We have to correct this path, turn around and go back to how we used do it right. At the end of the day, what distinguishes our hotels and beaches is how we make those visitors feel while they are there.”