The Tribune

By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Tribune Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

TOURISM Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar says he is encouraged by recent spring break travel numbers, adding he is hopeful the country will experience a “substantial” uptick in visitor arrivals by the end of the year.

While admitting he was unsure if arrivals would return to the high of 2019, the minister said the country was well on its way to better numbers after a COVID-19 induced slump in 2020.

A turnaround, Mr D’Aguilar told reporters yesterday, hinged on vaccinations both here and in the United States.

“Everybody is saying that there is an enormous amount of pent up demand even in the United States, they can’t even seem to wait to get the vaccine,” the minister said. “They (are) ready to travel. Travelling is up substantially.

“People are getting a little bit ahead of themselves in their quest to enjoy themselves post-pandemic.”

He continued: “We didn’t think that as many people would get vaccinated in such a short period and so I’m very encouraged, very optimistic that once the United States gets to the 70 or 80 percent that (Chief Medical Advisor to the US President) Dr (Anthony) Fauci always goes on about herd immunity and I think we are a little bit slower than them. Everybody has to get on board and discount all this anti-vaccine talk and get vaccinated and we have to get the supply to do it.

“…I think we’ll have a very robust result. I am hoping by the end of the year we should see a substantial, I don’t know if we’ll be back at 2019 that was a record year, but certainly well on our way to get there. But I am certainly feeling a lot better now than I was three or four months ago.”

Mr D’Aguilar said spring break numbers also encouraged him about this year’s performance.

“What we’re noticing and the best way to gauge it is to look at the number of applications on the Bahamas health visa (site) and every month we’re seeing an increase and certainly now in March and April, based on the numbers that we are seeing passing through there and also based on the numbers that the hotels are reporting to us. As we’ve always said we expect the numbers to increase through this year and as more and more people get vaccinated in the United States you see they are doing it at a phenomenal rate.

“They’ve got lots of vaccines. People are getting vaccinated at a phenomenal rate and studies have shown that when people get vaccinated they want to travel. So, it’s now up to us to get vaccinated and that’s why I said persons in the tourism industry should be given preferential treatment.”

As things pick up, the minister said hotels will have to consider if receiving the vaccine for staff is a requirement for employment.

He was asked if hotels had expressed any concerns about workers being inoculated.

“They (hotels) are anxious for their staff to get vaccinated. So, we first of all from the government side and the Ministry of Health have to provide the vaccines and then we have to undergo an exercise to encourage the staff as much as possible to do it willingly.

“What they end up making a requirement for employment at that hotel would obviously be their decision to make.

“You will see that the cruise companies are making sure or insisting that all of their staff and all of their guests are vaccinated.”