The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A Cabinet minister has reiterated his concern that “vaccine hesitancy” among Bahamians and residents is delaying the economy’s rebound and contributing to the COVID-19 “third wave”.

Dionisio D’Aguilar, minister of tourism and aviation, told Tribune Business that “the hue and cry” over present infection rates should serve as a warning for persons to become inoculated as it was critical to reviving the tourism industry and wider economy.

“I continue to be concerned by vaccine hesitancy,” the minister said. “It’s absolutely critical to keep the COVID-19 numbers at an acceptable level, and the only way to do that, apart from mask wearing and social distancing, which people are tiring of, is to get vaccinated.

“There’s a lot of hue and cry about a ‘third wave’. It’s a reminder to us we have to get vaccinated. It’s a critical component of managing the ‘third wave’, and bringing the numbers down and saving people’s lives. If we want normalcy and the economy to rebound, vaccination is a critical component. I know a lot of people are waiting and seeing, and I hope that period comes to an end shortly.”

The Bahamas has presently vaccinated some 36,000 persons, and Mr D’Aguilar reiterated that the Ministry of Tourism’s figures and those of the major hotels/tourism operators showed “there’s a growing demand by visitors to come to the country, certainly over the summer months”.

While acknowledging that this trend was likely to “ebb and flow” according to tourism’s seasonality, he added that this was set to translate into “a much better Christmas 2021 than 2020”. 

“I think every business in the tourism sector has had to digest the effects of COVID-19,” Mr D’Aguilar said. “There’s no doubt every business in the tourism industry has been negatively impacted. Some businesses have closed, some have downsized, and some have gone into a cocoon to wait for the rebound to happen.”

The minister earlier this week voiced optimism that major resorts will “get back to 60 percent of where they were in 2019” by Christmas, with May’s visitor arrivals forecast to rise to the mid-70,000 range.

He told the Rotary Club of south-east Nassau that while Atlantis and Baha Mar were both reporting a faster booking pace than pre-COVID this did not translate into similar occupancy levels.

However, Mr D’Aguilar added that “the trajectory is starting to go back up” in terms of visitor arrivals as measured by foreign purchases of The Bahamas’ health travel visa. These had increased from 14,000 in November 2020 to 32,000 in December and, following a dip in January and February over fears of a quarantine for returning US travellers, had subsequently risen to 60,000 in March and 64,000 in April.

With health travel visa issuances for May projected to be in the mid-70,000s range, Mr D’Aguilar acknowledged that The Bahamas’ tourism rebound - and recovery of its wider economy - still has a long distance to travel.

“The bread and butter is Nassau. Seventy-five percent of our arrivals come to Nassau,” he said. “The big hotels are the revenue generators. They started off in the 10-15 percent occupancy range, and are now at 30 percent, but clearly have not rebounded.

“We’re hopeful of a significant rebound, certainly by Christmas if nothing else impacts that, and we’re back to 60 percent of where we were in 2019. It’s a bit of a crystal ball now as people are making last-minute decisions and there are impediments to travel.”