The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

TOURISM Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar said yesterday the number of people who bought travel health visas to visit The Bahamas last month was “substantially larger” than what was seen in April, saying the figures suggest the country is moving in the right direction.

His comments came a day after British Airways resumed its flight operations to this country after more than a year since direct flights between The Bahamas and the UK were stopped due to the pandemic.

Hailing the move yesterday, the tourism minister said: “We were indeed very delighted to see British Airways on the ground. The flight came in with 233 passengers out of 275, meaning a load factor of 85 percent but what was so economically impactful about that flight was that flight terminated in Nassau so that meant every single passenger on that plane got off here in Nassau and is either a returning resident or citizen or a visitor coming on vacation here.

“As you know, we had no links with Europe. It was very, very difficult to get here from Europe and finally, with the re-establishment of the British Airways nonstop direct flights from London Heathrow, persons in Europe or the United Kingdom now have a mechanism to return to The Bahamas so that was a very significant and impactful flight. The flights are going to be once a week and as the load factor or the demand dictates, we will move to a greater frequency.”

As it relates to the nation’s leading industry, Mr D’Aguilar added: “I am very encouraged. Numbers are increasing. They are moving upwards. You would have seen it at the airports. You would have seen it at the hotels. More visitors are coming to The Bahamas. I see it on the health visa website. There was a significant increase in the number of persons purchasing a health visa in the month of May.

“I haven’t quite finalised the numbers as yet, but I can tell you that they were substantially larger than what they were in April so we are moving in the right direction. The numbers are increasing and the only thing that we have left to manage is the amount of COVID in the country and that is directly, of course, linked to vaccinations.”

According to the data released by tourism officials, in November 2020, 13,994 foreign visitors bought travel health visas; 32,061 foreign visitors made visa purchases in December 2020; 20,768 did in January 2021 and 28,425 did in February.

March saw 60,497 people purchasing the travel visas, while April had 64,047. May’s figures are currently being finalised.

Tourism officials have said while the numbers are a far cry from what the country saw prior to COVID, the figures indicate that The Bahamas is making some progress.

However, Mr D’Aguilar also said that only when the country achieves herd immunity, then the economy will be able to fully rebound from the pandemic. “People are tired of curfew,” he said before heading into a Cabinet meeting. “They’re tired of not being able to congregate but in order to congregate, we have to vaccinate and people are tired of hearing about it, but if the economy is to rebound and people are to get employed, we have to vaccinate. I can’t make it any simpler than that,” he continued.