EDITOR, The Tribune.
How sad to read in The Tribune that the British Colonial Hotel is closing down. My husband and I spent our honeymoon there in 1982 and have been regular visitors ever since. The location was excellent and all the amenities were of the highest standard. We shall really miss staying there.
However, if our problems in coming to you for two years now are any indication it has become extremely difficult to visit The Bahamas. For decades it was easy with good flights and easy entry at the airport. Now all the rules are so complex we cannot complete them in the short three-day time frame from a rapid antigen test to entry. The Health Visa is a nuisance and takes valuable time from our regular schedule to complete. Whoever drew up these rules should try to go through the hassles themselves, including booking flights in co-ordination. Our travel agent has urged us to book elsewhere where entry is far easier as he has had to send his other regular Bahamas visitors to other countries.
We could not come when your borders closed and then later there were very few flights. Then we had the PCR test complications in obtaining them and getting to you within five days. Our agent advised us two months ago that with a double vaccination certificate we could now enter. So we booked immediately. Now we are told about the additional test and we cannot find anywhere to obtain it with great shortages. We have had to cancel the trip once again. No wonder hotels are closing.
It is so sad to see The Bahamas decline in interest. Our travel agent says that it is unbelievable that your Tourism Ministry and Government rules have allowed such harm to your main industry when there are so many other destinations to travel to these days. I hope the situation will improve very soon. We love The Bahamas.
ELIZABETH WARNER
Baltimore,
USA
January 23, 2022.
Comments
Alan1 2 years, 3 months ago
This is an excellent letter. When our Tourism Ministry introduced all these rules there does not seem to have been much research as to how visitors would react to all the hassles. We have just got used to tourists coming no matter what. However now we have a lot of competition and people can go to so many other southern resorts with far easier entry rules. Why bother having to go through all the time consuming and expensive rules to come to us? Even regular visitors are going elsewhere. Tourism Minister Chester Cooper should have kept their election promise to abolish all the Health Visas. We are all suffering from this tourist decline. But,so far, the officials are stubbornly keeping these unworkable measures.
Dawes 2 years, 3 months ago
I reckon the letter writer is the same person who keeps writing these type letters every couple weeks. Probably even Alan1. Obviously they do not know the country as only a few weeks back the hotels were saying they expected a bumper season (pre Omincron). We haven't changed our requirements for entry so this can not be the case. I can only assume that whoever this letter writer is does not like to be put out. I know many travelling into and out of the US and no problems with getting tests to get back, so it can't be that hard. Canada is different and i would have no problems if we required Canadians to meet the same requirement we have to when we go there.
newcitizen 2 years, 3 months ago
"It's so hard for us to figure out how to organize ourselves, and it seems that testing is terrible where we are so we would like to blame the Bahamas for these problems. Why did the Bahamas make testing a sh*tshow where I am from? Why did the Bahamas make me incapable of organizing myself? The Bahamas is ruining their country because we suck at being adults in US/Canada"
Basically how everyone of these letters goes. Can the Tribune please stop publishing them?
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