The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

TOURISM, Investments and Aviation Minister Chester Cooper said officials are “fully behind” the cruise industry despite the Pan American Health Organisation’s concern about cruise travel amid the pandemic.

Speaking on the sidelines of an event yesterday, Mr Cooper was asked about recently expressed concern from PAHO about limiting cruise ship traffic due to the Omicron variant.

“We are fully behind the cruise industry,” Mr Cooper said. “We are supportive of their arrival. We expect their arrivals to continue over the course of the next several weeks as we have been seeing in months of November and December. Some days we’ve had five ships in the harbour. We are satisfied that the cruise lines, notwithstanding the challenges of COVID, have put in place sustainable protocols. “These protocols we’ve tested and proven throughout the course of the pandemic we are consistently looking at the protocols that we have for air travel.”

The US Centres for Disease Control recently reclassified The Bahamas’ travel warning from level two to level three due to a surge in COVID-19 cases. Mr Cooper said these ratings will fluctuate as the pandemic rages on.

“While we have the ratings of the CDC in terms of the cruise lines and generally in terms of our country, this is not unlike what we’re seeing everywhere else in the world. As a result of Omicron, case levels have gone through the roof and the reality of where we are now is that we expect in the future that ratings will fluctuate. We’ve been a level two only just recently and therefore we anticipate that as the pandemic isn’t over. We haven’t seen the end of it. We’re going to continue to be very measured in the protocols that we put in place.”

Mr Cooper added local officials will continue to monitor the reports of the international communities, the CDC, and other such entities, but are working ‘hand-in-hand’ with the cruise association and “all of our stakeholders” to ensure they strike the right balance.

PAHO’s Director of Health Emergencies Dr Ciro Ugarte said during the organisation’s recent press briefing that caution must be used for cruise ship travel.

“PAHO has always urged utmost caution and even considering resuming cruise ship traffic because of the very specific poorly understood dynamic of the virus onboard cruise ships for example. In regard to national authorities, our recommendation has been to proceed in progressive manner and on the basis of clear operational and administrative agreements they have with the tourism industry,” he explained.

“Therefore, in the context of intense transmission due to the Omicron variant… it seems judicious to suspend or at least limit the cruise ship traffic, as an outbreak on board might end up exceedingly high and probably will go beyond the capacity of local health services. It is a very cautious approach. We need to balance, of course, the economy and well-being of the population. At the same time, we have to continue saving lives and reducing the impact in all sectors.”