The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

TOURISM, Investments and Aviation Minister Chester Cooper yesterday called the opposition’s assertions that the government was subsidising the cost of American tourists’ COVID tests “political nonsense”.

Mr Cooper was responding to a statement recently released by Free National Movement (FNM) Leader Michael Pintard over the issue.

Mr Pintard had raised concerns over the matter in the House of Assembly last week.

His comments came after Health and Wellness Minister Dr Michael Darville told parliamentarians during the mid-year budget debate last week that all foreign visitors now have a free COVID test built into their health visa.

However, in a statement released Monday, Mr Pintard reiterated his arguments that the $40 health travel visa was not sufficient to cover COVID testing.

He also accused the government of using Bahamian taxpayer dollars to pay for the tests which would allow visitors to return home.

Breaking down the $40 fee, Mr Pintard argued that the majority - around $25 - pays for the health insurance coverage that allows COVID-infected patients to either be evacuated to their home country or spend extra days in The Bahamas in isolation, together with per diem expenses.

Of the balance, Mr Pintard said $10 of every health travel visa fee covers the initiative’s administrative costs and overhead, leaving a $5 surplus which represents the sums remitted to the Treasury.

“When the cost of the COVID-19 test to return to the USA ($23) is factored in, the total cost of a health visa increases to $58. Ultimately, the government is charging visitors only $40 for a health visa that it will pay $58 for,” Mr Pintard said in a statement.

“As a result, each time a visitor takes a COVID-19 test, the Bahamian taxpayer subsidises the health visa to the tune of $18. Simply put, this government is now subsidising the cost of COVID-19 tests for visitors to return to the United States.”

Responding yesterday, Mr Cooper called it “political nonsense,” while insisting that the same visa model that was used under the Minnis administration is the one being used now.

The deputy prime minister said: “The facts are as follows: the previous administration and this administration have always provided a five-day test or two-day test as the case might be as a part of the fee that’s being charged for the travel health visa. Instead of that test being a five-day test, it is now a departure test, the same test.

“So if it is unprofitable now, it was unprofitable then. If we are subsidising the travel for tourists now, we were subsidising the travel for tourists then so it’s really nonsense in my view and the reality of it is that we are transitioning the travel health visa matter.

“We do have a batch of tests on hand and we made the determination that this is how we will handle it. It’s no additional cost to the government. It’s no change of the model whatsoever in terms of cost. It is what it is.”

He also said: “The fee for the travel health visa always included the cost of a test. The test previously was a five-day test. We changed it to a two-day test and we changed it back to a five-day test and we eliminated the five-day test and we’re now saying that same test you can access as your test that you’re required to have when you’re returning to the United States. The model has not changed whatsoever.”

The minister also revealed that the government plans to end the travel health visa at some point in the foreseeable future.

However, he could not say when the move will happen, but noted the situation will heavily depend on infection rates in the country.

“We are hopeful that we have seen the end of COVID,” Mr Cooper told reporters. “We are monitoring it in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and when we make a determination that we no longer need the travel health visa, it will go away so I foreshadow this is a transition period and during the transition period, if the determination is made that we are comfortable with the state of COVID in the world, then it will be eliminated. It is not here to stay indefinitely, but I cannot give you a specific date at this time as to when it will be eliminated.”