The rules of entry

As of Monday, March 22, 2021

EDITOR, The Tribune.

Your Minister of Tourism is quoted in The Tribune as saying he is “thrilled” at cruises set to return to The Bahamas.

Not so “thrilled” will be prospective visitors when they are informed about the ongoing harsh rules of entry to your country.

How many of them will be willing to proceed with the expensive and time consuming requirements just to have a holiday even if it is feasible?

Our family has been unable to visit our holiday property for over a year because of the unworkable rules.

Many people find it difficult to even find a test centre where COVID-19 PCR tests are given to healthy people.

Even if a place is found test results take at least two days after the exorbitant fees are paid.

Then your Minister has the Health Visa which is another bureaucratIc nightmare and must be scanned online.

There is no certainty when permission will be granted.

With so few flights the coordination of flights with permission is problematic.

Everyone has to be on the ground in Nassau by the fifth day after the test! Now your Minister has proclaimed that all cruise passengers must have a vaccination certificate as well.

There are so many other places to vacation with far fewer rules. No wonder tourism has fallen sharply. Why bother with the hassles to visit The Bahamas?

Widespread criticism of these measures has brought no easing of the rules. Your Minister stubbornly refuses any compromise. With your economy in crisis and unemployment at record levels surely change must come soon or the tourism sector will never recover which is a frightening prospect for so many people.

MARK V JOHNSTONE

Bedford, Massachusetts, 01730

USA

March 20, 2021.

Alan1 3 years ago

I totally agree with the letter writer. People cannot enter our country without a test anyway. So why make it so cumbersome and difficult that they will never make a booking anyway? It is difficult enough for many people to even find a test centre to get the test. The cost of $200-$300 puts people off in the first place. Having all the requirements completed in such a short five day period has put people off coming as well. If you do not get your Health Visa back in time for your air booking you lose deposits for hotels and possibly airfares. Then,if you still want to come ,you must start the process all over again with another expensive test. . There are so few flights now that choice is limited. Our Tourism Ministry has done its best to discourage the visitors we could have had coming. They express no regret at all the harsh measures. While the majority of our population are unemployed as a result of the pandemic what tourism we could be having has been nearly destroyed by the poorly conceived rules. Who can imagine most cruise passengers would be bothered going through all the hassles? Likely very few. The prospects look very bleak until a massive easing of rules is implemented.

newcitizen 3 years ago

This bullcrap again. Try and go to any other country in the world right now, most don't even accept Americans and the rest all have testing requirements. Why is it that in the middle of a pandemic is when people find it in themselves to show off just how inept they are at navigating simple things in modern life.

And what is up with the Tribune continuing every few weeks to publish these letters from the people who want to travel internationally but can't seem to figure out how to do 2 things. Take a test, and send the results in along with their health visa application. That's it, two things. Marky Mark here has taken more effort to write this letter than it would be to apply for his health visa.

What happened to people? The world used to be much more difficult but now somehow Marky Mark just can't cope anymore. Also who needs to scan things? Labs send out result via email. Everyone of these letters talks about scanning documents like they somehow got them by fax or post or something.

In short, the Tribune seems to be in desperate need to fill space on the pages because they keep publishing confession of foreigners about just how hard it is for them to navigate basic tasks in life.