The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

I have been coming to Nassau for most of my life. I came first as a schoolboy when my late Father worked for the Bahamas Government civil service. Our family have returned regularly because we like the surroundings, the lovely weather and the friendly and welcoming Bahamians.

I grew up reading The Tribune and have been following your online service regularly. I have been struck lately by the many Canadian and UK letters complaining about the harsh requirements for entry.

These are sincere letters from genuine friends of The Bahamas who want to return despite the health pandemic. I am disappointed to read some of the nasty responses from your local people under these letters.

Unlike Canada and the UK, The Bahamas depends upon tourism for their economy. To have a drastic decline in tourists has affected the Canadian and UK economies but is nowhere as catastrophic as it is becoming for nations such as yourself who must rely on tourism.

When we went to our local travel agent to book again for Nassau they confirmed the rules. For us, they are completely unworkable. British Airways has not resumed service but we could take Air Canada from London and connect through Toronto to Nassau at a reasonable fare. However we cannot get a COVID-19 PCR test very easily here due to waiting lists at the government health centres because leisure travel is a low priority. We have no certainty about timings between taking the tests, getting results, scanning these to Nassau, waiting for confirmation and being on the ground in five days. Who could ever have dreamed up these rules? They are expensive and time consuming to complete and are turning away people who would otherwise book to come. Our travel agency is advising travel to several other destinations saying The Bahamas rules are destroying any tourist trade. Our agent has also regularly booked clients on cruises which come to The Bahamas but cannot see any potential cruise passenger willing to go through with all these rules just to spend a day or two in Nassau or an offshore island. They will book people to other ports of call.

I would have thought by now that your Government officials would have seen the errors of their ways. Most people are aware of the current travel precautions and are willing to take and bring a test. Many are retired or work from home so a fourteen day quarantine on return is not a major problem. However the whole entry scenario should be changed immediately or there will surely be no tourist season at all. We are not going to book elsewhere but are waiting for developments in the hope we can make our annual trip once again.

JOHN R PALMER

Kent, England,

November 29, 2020.