The Tribune

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS

Tribune Staff Reporter

lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

AFTER the United States changed the country’s travel advisory, Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis said his message to tourists remains: “The Bahamas is a safe place to come. Continue to come.”

“They will be safe while they are here. The Bahamas is what it is,” he said.

Zn Friday, the United States issued an updated travel advisory for The Bahamas, pushing the country’s alert level to two, meaning exercise increased caution.

“The majority of crime occurs on New Providence (Nassau) and Grand Bahama (Freeport) islands,” the advisory reported.

“In Nassau, practice increased vigilance in the ‘Over the Hill’ area (south of Shirley Street) where gang-on-gang violence has resulted in a high homicide rate primarily affecting the local population.”

Mr Davis told residents not to be worried about the advisory, noting that it won’t impact the country.

“Well, first of all, travel alerts are subjective to the country that issue them,” he said.

“We issue travel alerts as well, warning our citizens about countries where we feel that they could be at risk, and the advisory’s primarily is just to be careful about your surroundings.”

Yesterday, Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell questioned why people get concerned about travel advisories.

“I can’t understand why people are so agitated about this, I really don’t,” he said.

“What we’re trying to figure out is, are you upset about the advisory? Or are you upset about the fact that of the killings?

“Now, the killings you should be upset about, right, but that’s our society.”

“The advisory, well, that’s a subjective matter, and each country can advise their citizens how they wish to advise their citizens; we do it ourselves. And so, all I’m saying to Bahamians is that you ought to have confidence in your own country; it is your country, and there’s an expression in The Bahamas a fisherman does not call its own fish stink.”