The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

A former director-general has urged that a tourism "master plan" be developed for each island to aid The Bahamas' efforts to recover its largest industry amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sir Baltron Bethel, who held the post from 1978 to 1992, and also served as a senior policy adviser to prime minister Perry Christie during the last administration, said such strategies should be linked to the "long overdue" National Development Plan that has seemingly been shelved by the former Christie administration.

"Business models should be ideally developed as part of a tourism master plan for every island destination within The Bahamas, and be incorporated as a major segment of the overall National Development Plan, which is long overdue and has been a work in progress," Sir Baltron told the Financial Voice TV show organised by TCL Group.

"It is very timely for The Bahamas to embrace the thinking of global economy and tourism authorities about a reset of tourism with innovation, conservation, sustainability, inclusiveness and community development. Even more relevant to The Bahamas is the Global Economic Forum position of the need for competiveness, tourism management and the carrying capacity of the destination.”

The Bahamas has traditionally been viewed as a high-cost destination that is uncompetitive on price, largely due to electricity and labour costs that do not match the service and productivity given in return.

However, Sir Baltron said The Bahamas should not be in a rush to abandon tourism as its key economic driver. He added:" “Let us not forget, tourism, which is the main engine of our economy, has been good for The Bahamas and has served us well despite the fact that it has always been subject to external shocks of various kinds, and internal shocks like nature, all beyond our control.

"I certainly observed during the period of 14 years of my tenure first-hand these particular shocks. However, we were prepared to meet them, and meet them head on. The shocks included several economic recessions; shortages of oil and gas; an energy crisis; the escalation of fuel prices; various airline bankruptcies; the Gulf War; the stock market crash; and rise in competition from low-cost destinations.

"We met those challenges, and implemented innovative plans and strategies, and proposed new programmes that resulted in Bahamian tourism remaining remarkably resilient. Visitor arrivals grew from 1.4m to 3.7m annually. National tourism receipts were in excess of $14bn, and over 40m visitors were attracted to The Bahamas during this period. We became the number one destination in the region."

Sir Baltron continued: “This was accomplished through close co-operation and collaboration between the public and private sectors. All stakeholders and the public were constantly involved, and we forged meaningful and productive relationships with our overseas travel trade partners, airlines, cruise lines and investors. We constantly kept our business model under review.

“The present COVID-19 global pandemic presents unprecedented challenges with the extremely negative impact on the economy, as we have just heard. This is an impact like we have never witnessed before. It will take time, it will take innovation, new strategies, enormous cost and sacrifice to the Government, the industry, employers and employees to rebuild and recover.

"The co-operation and compliance of the entire public with the health protocols will be necessary. Recovery, and the re-opening of hotels and attractions, will only take place on a large scale when COVID-19 is brought under control within the entire population."

Joy Jibrulu, the present Ministry of Tourism director-general, added: “If we look at the contribution of tourism to GDP, approximately 50 percent depending on which figures you use, the hit has been tremendous.

"At the Ministry of Finance, they are projecting losses of $600m for the period we have been in lockdown or reduced travel activity to The Bahamas. So this tends to be in line, as well, with what we’re seeing - declines across the board. Travel and tourism is a global industry. Everyone has been experiencing it, and we’re all coming out of it at the same time.”