EDITOR, The Tribune.
“Book us Elsewhere” has been the constant hallmark of the past year concerning possible trips to The Bahamas at the travel agencies which I operate in Rochester and Syracuse New York.
Before your Minister of Tourism essentially shut down your travel industry, The Bahamas was at the top of the desired southern holiday spots which we booked. The introduction of your Health Visa and so many other restrictive measures has so turned off potential clients that we now have little interest in trips to your country.
People want to book vacations with ease of travel and of entry. It would appear that little if any consultation was made with the travel industry when your draconian entry rules came into force.
Clients accepted that a COVID-19 test was likely a part of a holiday during the pandemic even though that involved an expensive and time consuming process.
However, to add Health Visa forms, a time from test to entry of only five days and all the resulting uncertainties of the time to receive travel permission together with the lack of flights has all combined to kill off our business with you.
It is far too complicated for nearly everyone. After being informed of these rules nearly all the clients, including many regular return Bahamas visitors, said: “Book us elsewhere”.
As a business model it has been a complete failure, costly to your country and the hopes to revive this important part of your economy.
I read The Tribune regularly. There have been constant letters of complaint about these rules, but all concerns have been essentially ignored. Why has the tourist industry in The Bahamas been so silent in the face of economic ruin?
The latest pronouncements about admissions with both vaccines and a fifteen day waiting period are hailed by your Tourism Minister as a “breakthrough”. The majority of our clients are younger and middle aged who had been booking for The Bahamas in the past. Most of them have not even had the first vaccine. It will be a very long time indeed before they receive both vaccines. We are further told that after six months they may be asked to get booster shots for “further travel” to The Bahamas.
These are highly unlikely to be available under the current worldwide conditions. Who has designed all this red tape? It would seem you want an almost permanent stop to visitors. Even if they have both vaccines they still must apply for a Health Visa and complete other rules. Sadly I cannot see many bookings coming your way. We have too many other destinations where it is far easier to enter without all your hassles. We are now regularly sending clients to these places.
After booking people to your country for over forty-five years I feel very badly about all the problems which your Government has created. Frankly for myself and my office staff it has been unbelievable. You must change direction immediately.
RICHARD J HANSON
Rochester, New York,
USA
May 9, 2021.
Comments
ohdrap4 3 years ago
If they listened to people in the industry , you would not be writing this letter.
They had egg all over their faces with their VIP- vacation in place proposal.
If you disagree with a Bahamian, you are worse thant stupid, you are a foreigner.
Alan1 3 years ago
I thoroughly agree with the letter writer. We must change quickly or we will never recover. The amount of red tape involved in coming to The Bahamas is killing our tourist trade. People can travel elsewhere in the Caribbean area with far fewer requirements. The Health Visa should be scrapped immediately. It has caused so much uncertainty for no one knows whether they will receive permission to travel in time for their flight (s). Who wants to pay high fees for a Covid19 PCR test, wait two to three days for results, complete all the Health Visa forms, scan them to Nassau and not be certain for the timing of permission to travel? Coordinating all this with the lack of flights is a nightmare. Who has dreamed up all these rules?? Our Bahamas is in real trouble now with so few visitors. Our people need work.
carltonr61 3 years ago
European Union governments have also set up harsh roadblocks for tourist dependent states within the Union. Many who refuse the hassle opted to vacation within their respective state. Is there a cost for the health visa, and if do does the money go to the peoples treasury or private Covid profiteers. It seems as if the trillion dollar tourism product has been systematically hijacked and targeted by a most powerful global pharmaceutical mafia.
tribanon 3 years ago
The single best thing we can now do as a country to try re-kindle our tourism sector, and at the same time pivot it away from the worthless cruise ship industry, is get rid of Dunce D'Aguilar. The man is hopelessly incompetent and without an ounce of common sense. He's been a complete disaster for our country as minister of tourism.
JokeyJack 3 years ago
Why would anyone want to vacation anywhere during this time? Too many rules and regulations - plus you can't go anywhere to do anything - you always have to wear your mask, and you have to keep 3 pretzels in each of your socks all day long. During the day they end up crumbling and you then need to wash your socks separately in the sink before putting them in the laundry machine - or else the pretzel crumbs get into all of your clothing and stain them.
This is simply stupid. How can you have fun under these conditions?
Until the mask and pretzel requirements are removed, I myself to do not plan to go anywhere. I can walk around to nowhere just as well here as I can in any other city/country.
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