The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

My husband and I have had a long association with The Bahamas having first come to Nassau for work assignments nearly forty years ago. Our children are also now visiting and we always come and stay in the winter months.

We follow your newspaper and have been motivated to write by the many other Canadians who have written about their distress at the very harsh requirements to enter The Bahamas. Decisions by your Government will very soon have to be made whether you want tourism at all this winter. Most Canadians remain healthy and are taking precautions against the COVID-19 virus. However, many have been coming for years and now face such hurdles that most do not know whether they can come due to all the uncertainties.

Our son is currently attempting to visit friends in The Bahamas but at every turn there is yet another roadblock. He finally found a government telephone number in Toronto to ring to seek your required COVID-19 test by our health authority.

He gave his contact number and waited a day for the callback. He was then given a code and website where he was given a hospital location at the other end of the city for an appointment in two days. He waited over an hour after the time set and was finally given the test. Then he was told it would take between two and four days to get the result. With the result, he would have to scan it to Nassau for your new Health Visa. No information was given by your authorities as to the time frame for the return permission to travel other than he must be there by the seventh day after the test. No idea of cost to him is given for the Visa. As a result of all your difficult conditions and the test period until you land in Nassau, nearly all the Air Canada flights have been cancelled because no one can complete these hurdles in time to coordinate with flights.

Why did your Ministry of Tourism introduce such policies without thinking how prospective visitors could comply? Frankly it is unbelievable. You are headed for a complete financial disaster if the rules are not changed.

We keep reading about your Finance Ministry emphasising the immediate need for tourism to be restored to restart the economy. Why have they not thought about the reasons people are not coming?

Excuses such as COVID-19 have some merit but we are all learning to cope with the new situation and many here want to come to warmer climates for periods of time in the winter. You should abandon the preliminary tests which are causing the problems and test people upon entry. Most do not grudge paying for such tests. Ideas by your Tourism Minister about forced travel health insurance are not feasible. My husband and myself have worked in the medical field for a long time. We have never known any patients who travel outside of Canada without purchasing such health insurance. If enforced as part of the Visa visitors would have to pay twice for the health insurance.

We hope there will be an immediate rethinking about how The Bahamas can welcome visitors more practically or most will turn to the other Caribbean and Mexican destinations where entry is far easier and does not require visitors to take valuable time away from work or activities to obtain your Health Visa. This is an urgent crisis to be addressed.

MARGARET JACKSON, MD

Canada,

October 17, 2020.