The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

A Cabinet minister yesterday said the tourism industry could take 18 months to fully “ramp up” following the COVID-19 shutdown.

Dionisio D’Aguilar, pictured, minister for tourism and aviation, told media outside the Cabinet Office: “Obviously we have to get the word out that July 1 is the date we want to open. I am sure it will be fairly low to start off with; a lot of people are probably apprehensive to start off with.

“What we think is to our advantage is that we are a short hop away [from the US] and we have had very few coronavirus cases - and certainly very few deaths comparatively. I think that the social distancing and the sanitation methods we have employed have been successful, and we have to get that message out to ensure that people are willing to take the risk of making a journey. I think we are well positioned to have a ramp up over time, but it won’t be 2019.”

Mr D’Aguilar warned that it could take between one year to 18 months for The Bahamas’ tourism volumes to rebound from the pandemic as he warned Bahamians to “temper” their expectations, particularly given that unemployment in The Bahamas’ key source market of the US now stands at 38m.

Confirming that multiple tourism industry stakeholders have been meeting regularly to develop health and safety protocols for the industry’s restart, Mr D’Aguilar added: “Obviously the marketing strategy has been developed.

“We have been very quiet right now, and just using social media and very inexpensive ways to keep The Bahamas top of mind, but once we restart the industry we will launch a very comprehensive marketing programme using all of the various forms of media to inform, first and foremost, that The Bahamas is open for business and that we are a safe, wonderful, clean and pristine destination to come to.”

Addressing the permanent closure of Luciano’s restaurant, Mr D’Aguilar said: “What that closure says it that we have to, as quickly and safely as possible, begin to reopen our economy. If you are a business, and you have a certain amount of cash in your bank account at the time of the closure, you have been slowly burning through that cash, paying some of your staff, keeping key personnel employed, paying electricity, paying rent if you have to.

“The longer that goes on, and the longer we keep our industry closed, the less resources will be at the end of this journey to restart your business. Not only is it that we have to reopen the industry, but we have to rebuild our customer base. So it is not just that on July 1, everything is back to normal.

“It’s going to take time for customers to get safe and feel comfortable enough to want to go out and go to a dinner, and go to a restaurant. That journey will be quite difficult for a number of businesses. It just impressed upon me even more that as quickly as possiblewe have to open our economy to prevent such unfortunate events as what happened at Luciano’s.”