The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

The tourism minister yesterday apologised for his ministry’s decision to remove the Abacos from its marketing platforms, and vowed to switch to more “specific” messaging about the islands.

Dionisio D’Aguilar, minister of tourism and aviation, conceded that it “probably didn’t react quickly enough” to change the narrative as Abaco’s tourist-related businesses, destinations and attractions began to rebuild and re-open five months after Hurricane Dorian’s passage.

Responding to outrage from Abaco residents over the Ministry of Tourism’s decision to “scrub” Abaco from its website, he said: “What happened was that, after Hurricane Dorian, the Ministry of Tourism divided the country into 16 different destinations.

“To get the message out that the country was open for business, it identified Abaco and Grand Bahama.... probably from right after the storm, that those two destinations were impacted by the storm and so really shouldn’t be considered as islands to visit immediately after the storm.”

Mr D’Aguilar added: “So here we are five months on, and it’s time to reconsider that. I think the Ministry of Tourism probably didn’t react quickly enough to begin to change the narrative coming out of Abaco. So Abaco is obviously a destination back on the mend.

“The question is, and it always a balancing act, is when to say don’t visit it, because it is impacted and it’s destroyed. It has no power, it has no water. There is a lot of destruction and devastation around, so we don’t really want you to go there, to, OK, I think it is time to begin to reconsider a vacation to Abaco.

“I think the Abaco residents, justifiably, got very annoyed that we weren’t being aggressive enough in beginning to get the message out that there are properties that are coming back on stream and that they are beginning to re-open. So I apologise for that.”

Mr D’Aguilar said the Ministry of Tourism’s team “has completely been remobilised now to reconsider that; to update all of our information, to let the travelling public know what’s open, what’s not open. But, as I say, it’s a balancing act, because some journalists went down there the other day who have been there before, and they wished they hadn’t gone.”

Warning that The Bahamas must manage visitor expectations of what they will find in Abaco, and prevent any negative fall-out, Mr D’Aguilar added: “You don’t want the word to get out that they went to Abaco on holiday, and were shocked and appalled at the state of destruction.

“So, as I say, it’s a balancing act. As properties come back on stream, we will do our level best to get that message out. And obviously there were parts of Abaco that were not impacted that are wondering: Hey, what about us?

“So we have to fine-tune our messaging, and I agree completely this is what your population advises your government. The question is: Does the Government react to it, and I want to let the residents of Abaco know, message received, message heard, and we are adjusting all of our information to incorporate the developments that are on-going on Abaco.”

Mr D’Aguilar said the removal of Abaco from the Ministry of Tourism’s website, Bahamas.com, was the “first thing” to change. “The residents of Abaco noticed that Abaco had been completely removed from the list of possible places to visit, which was our reaction right after the storm, and probably was the thing to do right after the storm,” he added.

“But five months on we need to start to become a lot more specific on what is up and what is not up, and start to give the traveling public a little bit more specific information. Abaco residents are providing us with a lots of information. There are blogs to say what’s open and what isn’t, so we’re piggybacking off of that information.

“So, yes, the Ministry of Tourism will become a lot more specific in how it reports developments on Abaco as opposed to saying the whole island is shut down.”