EDITOR, The Tribune.
Where will the tourists come from should be the urgent problem which your Minister of Tourism and staff should tackle if The Bahamas is to ever recover from the current economic meltdown.
Your entry policies have been so difficult and harsh that even families like ourselves who have been regular winter residents cannot comply with them. I fail to understand how the officials thought these measures would attract visitors. People want hassle free travel and certainties in booking. Our local travel agency is steering clients away from The Bahamas because of the unrealistic five-day rule for entry and all the complications of getting and scanning tests and filling forms out.
This new requirement for Bahamas Health Insurance has really turned the travel agents off as well. How could Tourism staff realistically have thought prospective visitors would be bothered to complete these costly and time consuming measures especially as most other warm southern destinations are far easier to enter? Our state health facilities are overworked now and the only way to get your required COVID-19 PCR test is to go to expensive private clinics where a two-day wait for results is uncertain. Some clinics take three to four days for results. So few people will book tickets and lodgings and also, in some cases, arrange for time off work when there is no certainty of travel.
Your economy desperately needs tourists to survive. Bold statements that tourism will pick up by spring are unrealistic. Most people are well here and many are willing to travel but it has to be made much easier if there is to be any rebound in tourism. If not where is the future for The Bahamas if tourism collapses? A frightening prospect which will become a reality if things do not change quickly.
MARK V JOHNSTONE
Bedford Massachusetts,
USA.
December 29, 2020.
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