EDITOR, The Tribune.
Your Tourism and Hotel Association officials are hailing the decision of the American Government to upgrade the travel advisory for travel to The Bahamas. They say that now conferences and conventions will return. The Americans have done their part. Now we await your Government abolishing all the ridiculously difficult entry rules to make that happen.
There is a massive disconnect between your travel policies and the reality on the ground. Most people who attend these conferences and conventions are busy professional working people. Very few have the time or will to go through the hassles just to come to Nassau for a few days. How can you expect busy medical and legal people and others to take time to find a clinic to get a rapid antigen test, wait for the result, scan all the documentation with the double vaccination certificate, wait for approval to travel and be there within three days? The designers of these complicated rules have done a great disservice to The Bahamas for you are losing needed visitors and the revenue they bring to your struggling economy.
My own professional association came to Nassau for years. My brother’s medical association also annually visited. However, both of our groups are going elsewhere for the third time because they simply are not willing to go through all the road blocks you have imposed for travel. With COVID-19 declining there seems no justifiable reason to keep these expensive and anti-visitor policies. Many people are in disbelief about the need for a Health Visa to visit our neighboring country. For your sake I hope that common sense will immediately come to your Government’s entry regulations.
JOHN W ROBSON
Interlaken, New Jersey
USA
April 20, 2022.
Comments
Alan1 1 year, 12 months ago
Another excellent letter from someone who regularly visited our country and would like to continue frequent visits. The Tourism Minister and staff have ignored the many letters of complaint and concern for two years resulting in a massive loss of visitors. Why would anyone be willing to go through all the time consuming hassles just to visit us for a few days.? Busy professional people do not have the time for all these bureaucratic measures. What is wrong with showing a double vaccination certificate at the airport check in, receive the boarding pass and be on their way to our country? That is what is happening to travel nearly everywhere else now. As the writer says - common sense is lacking in these policies.
JokeyJack 1 year, 12 months ago
Because to do things normally and sensibly, would allow ordinary Bahamians to benefit and prosper. The purpose of our government is keep out own people down. They've been doing it for over 40 years. They do it because the Bahamian people WANT to be kept down and LOVE living like dogs. This is why the people did not see fit to give the COI even ONE seat in Parliament this last time. They are quite happy how things are, and the Parties aren't worried because they know they keep getting back in.
realityisnotPC 1 year, 12 months ago
Have to disagree with you, Alan. Seems there is a strange variety of person living in New Jersey, New York and Ontario who have problems dealing with very simple procedures (that my teenage kids can do with their eyes closed) and who love spewing hypocritical rubbish as well as bare faced lies. The process is simple (unless you have serious mental challenges); I’ve personally done it at least half a dozen times during the pandemic and the travel visa (when Bahamians needed it) never once took more than 2 hours to get approved, and normally was ready in under 45 minutes. If a tiny country like ours can make it easy for people to get an antigen test, then people living in G7 countries can only blame their own governments if they have dropped the ball…it’s not our fault if they are having problems doing something that the rest of the planet seem to have worked out how to do. And how dare they insinuate that our 3 day rule is strict when the US is still forcing everyone to get a test within 24 hours…we are 3 times as generous. And as for the stories of all the business we are losing…pull the other one. Hotels have been jammed packed this season and just today when I passed through the domestic and non-US international terminal, the line to check in for Westjet was out the door…funny how a bunch of not particularly clever looking Spring Breakers must have been perfectly capable of dealing with our “ridiculously difficult entry rules”. There is no doubt that the entry rules will slowly continue to be relaxed, but please can these whining hypocrites stop with their crybaby misrepresentations.
moncurcool 1 year, 12 months ago
You could not have said it better.
Don't understand these letter writers who will not look at their country's won stringent requirements and complain about that, but want to point fingers at our own which as you stated is more generous than theirs.
Dawes 1 year, 12 months ago
So this letter writer is a medical professional and is unable to get a simple rapid Covid test? Don't think i would use him
Proguing 1 year, 12 months ago
Government does not want to do away with the $50 per visitor health tax. Hotels are full, they have no incentives to terminate the program, even Bill Clinton is coming next week...
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