By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net 

AMID rising COVID-19 cases in the United States, Tourism Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar said while officials are concerned about the number of US infections being recorded daily, they are hopeful COVID-19 travel protocols will help minimise the threat of transported cases.

His comments came as major hotels across the country prepare to re-open this month, with Atlantis scheduled to resume operations on Thursday, followed by mega resort Baha Mar on December 17.

Hailing the scheduled reopenings as a “water-shed moment” for the country, Mr D’Aguilar told reporters yesterday the long-awaited hotel industry’s return will allow for thousands of Bahamians to return to work, helping to aid the country’s economic rebound from COVID.

“So absolutely, the tourism industry is beginning to re-open,” he said. “We start with Atlantis on the 10th, Baha Mar on the 17th, the Hilton on the 15th notwithstanding there’s been some hotels already opened during this whole time like the Ocean Club and the Marriott downtown have been operating throughout this entire pandemic.

“But it is indeed delightful that these major properties are opening and thousands upon thousands of Bahamians are being called back to work so this is really a watershed moment. It’s great, it’s wonderful and we got to really make it work.

“And we have to ensure that the foreign visitors when they come here have an exceptional experience and we really get the engines and the cogs of our tourism industry back to work. After all, that’s two thirds of our economy and two thirds of every job, 50 percent of our total economic output so it’s very important.”

Many major hotels closed in March after COVID-19 cases began to spread locally.

Some resorts had initially scheduled to reopen in July when the country first re-opened its borders, but had to delay their dates due to high COVID-19 cases in the country and certain restrictions.

After the country began its second re-opening attempt in November, many of the larger hotel properties announced they would officially re-open in December.

However, this comes at a time when COVID-19 cases are surging in the US – the country’s core tourism market. A similar situation was seen when the country first reopened in July.

While acknowledging that the situation is worrying, the minister also said tourism officials feel confident in the current travel protocols.

He said, “Of course, I’m concerned. I mean everybody turns on the television every night. They see the volume of people coming through the door and they see the cases, the deaths. It is very concerning, but we are hopeful that our protocols in place have been doing a fairly good job thus far.

“The numbers are down, I think people are getting a little slack so people have to double down, wear your masks, do what you have to do in order to stay safe in the tourist comeback.”

Current COVID-19 travel protocols mandate that returning residents and visitors present a negative COVID-19 RT-PCR test no older than five days and have an approved Bahamas health travel visa.

Travellers must complete a daily online health questionnaire for symptom tracking purposes and also will be required to take a COVID-19 rapid antigen test on day five of the visit (unless departing on day five).

According to health officials last month, four people who travelled to the Bahamas during the country’s first week of re-opening tested COVID-19 positive five days after arrival.

One of the travellers was identified as a Bahamian and the other three as work permit holders.