The Tribune

• Minister: Vaccine hesitancy runs ‘increased risk’

• Tourism threat if leads to more travel warnings

• But UK ‘amber’ status ‘not proving devastating’

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A fully vaccinated Bahamas is the only way to fully revive tourism and achieve a Cabinet minister’s goal of “always being in the best category” for COVID-19 travel advisories.

Dionisio D’Aguilar, minister of tourism and aviation, told Tribune Business the continued vaccination hesitancy among many Bahamians meant the country runs “an increased risk” of suffering “a spike” in COVID-19 infections that could cause major visitor source markets to warn against travel to the country.

With COVID-19 travel warnings remaining a challenge for this nation, the minister said he was especially concerned to keep The Bahamas’ ranking with the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as high as possible given that this was the indicator believed to substantially influence where group/meeting planners send their clients.

With The Bahamas last week failing to make the UK’s so-called “green list” of overseas travel destinations from where the latter’s citizens will not have to quarantine upon their return home, Mr D’Aguilar told this newspaper: “This is the whole reason ad nauseam why we’re trying to persuade as many Bahamians as possible to get vaccinated.

“If you don’t get vaccinated, you run the risk of the number of positive COVID-19 cases increasing and ending up on these lists like the CDCs” that advise against travel to The Bahamas. “By more and more people getting fully vaccinated, it reduces the possibility that you end up on these lists,” he reiterated.

“There’s a lot of hesitancy out there, and a substantial amount of hesitancy increases the risk of cases spiking, and increases the possibility that we will end up on these lists, impacting tourism. There are travellers, mostly groups, that look at this sort of thing and make decisions based on it.

“I want to mitigate that risk as much as possible of getting on these lists, and the best way to mitigate this risk is through vaccination.” The Bahamas’ efforts to attain this objective have been somewhat mixed to-date, although the CDC presently rates this country at ‘Level 3’ or a “high” COVID-19 risk, having been upgraded from ‘Level 4’ or “very high” in early June.

However, the risk remains that The Bahamas could always be returned to ‘Level 4’ status by the CDC if COVID-19 cases spike yet again, which happened earlier this year. To achieve so-called ‘herd immunity’ against the virus requires up to 80 percent of this country’s estimated 400,000-strong population to be fully vaccinated, which would put the target number at 320,000.

Renward Wells, minister of health, previously said The Bahamas will be “in a good place” once just 120,000 are vaccinated, but his predecessor in that office, Dr Duane Sands, suggested at least double this number will be required.

As at June 5, some 62,183 AstraZeneca vaccines doses have been given to Bahamas residents. Of this figure, 48,434 had received one dose. And 13,749 people had received two shots, meaning they are fully vaccinated. This represents roughly 4 percent of the country’s total population.

Meanwhile, The Bahamas also last week failed to feature among the UK’s so-called ‘green list’ of 16 relatively COVID-free overseas travel destinations for its citizens. However, multiple competing Caribbean tourism destinations were included on the list, such as Barbados and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

“Obviously we’d like to be on the ‘green list’, and I think we’re probably heading towards that,” Mr D’Aguilar said in response. “It makes it an even more attractive destination to come to. If I am a UK visitor and wanting to return to the UK, I’d prefer to come back from a destination where I did not have to quarantine.”

The UK is currently advising its residents against travelling to countries to which it has given an ‘amber’ or ‘red’ designation. The Bahamas is in the amber category. People who travel back to the UK from ‘amber’ countries must quarantine at home or in the place they are staying for ten days, and take a COVID-19 test on or before day two and on or after day eight.

The countries featured on the so-called UK ‘green list’ include multiple overseas territories or crown colonies, such as Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Balearic Islands, Barbados, Bermuda, British Antarctic Territory, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Madeira, Malta, Montserrat, Pitcairn Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Mr D’Aguilar said Caribbean-based UK overseas territories had a priceless advantage over The Bahamas in that they were able to obtain greater quantities of COVID-19 vaccines, and at a more rapid pace, than sovereign independent nations such as this.

“The UK blessed those destinations with vast quantities of vaccines, and they were able to roll-out their vaccination programmes in a far more rapid and successful manner,” he added. “Those countries were able to lean on their colonial masters for support, which we’re not able to.”

The UK traditionally accounted for 5 percent of annual visitors pre-COVID, while acting as a hub that provided direct airlift for other European nationals. Despite the UK’s ranking of The Bahamas, Mr D’Aguilar said there were signs it was not totally dampening demand.

“British Airways has returned up to two times’ a week, Monday and Thursday,” he added. “Obviously they went from one to two days because of the demand even with the ‘amber’ advisory. While I’m always desirous of being in the best category it’s not proving devastating.

“A lot of countries channel the UK to get to The Bahamas. It’s the only way to get to The Bahamas now from Europe, otherwise you have to go to the Dominican Republic, Turks and Caicos and then to Nassau.”