EDITOR, The Tribune.

How disappointing to read in your news this morning that restrictive measures will still be in place to enter The Bahamas as of November.

Despite all the fanfare with yesterday’s announcement by your Tourism Minister visitors will still have difficult barriers and decisions to make if they want to travel to Nassau.

Several couples who are friends of my wife and myself have been coming to Nassau for many years for a holiday before Christmas. My parents have been longtime winter residents. Everyone is from various parts of Canada.

I do not believe that your Tourism Ministry officials have any idea of the practical problems we face in completing the entry requirements.

Your Minister and his staff yesterday gave a flowery account of the beauty and pristine beaches in your country.

We know all of this or we would not be coming year after year.

However, you must face the fact that there are too many problems and unknown factors facing prospective visitors that they are essentially forced to look elsewhere where they feel more welcome.

You ask us to have a COVID-19 test no older than seven days from an approved clinic – a difficult task. Yet your Ministry fails to tell us where in Canada are these clinics located.

The provincial governments are the sole authority for health care. Giving such tests to healthy persons is either not allowed or in a low priority for appointments.

So how can we book an air ticket on the few flights operating if we do not know when we can get a test appointment? We must scan it to Nassau for the new “Health Visa” . We have no idea how long that will take. Reports are that they are late arriving. How then do we make accommodation bookings?

We now face the new hurdle of having to pay for the Visa. We are told the cost depends on the length of stay. How will that work for people such as my parents who are winter residents? What are the exact costs?

With all the time consuming requirements most Canadians and others will look to other more visitor friendly destinations.

Our travel agent this morning has advised us to look elsewhere as other Caribbean countries are either testing visitors on arrival or do not require tests.

She stated that The Bahamas needs a reality check immediately. This is based on the belief that people will not travel if they are unwell.

Unfortunately at this moment our family are still not certain how to proceed. We want to be in The Bahamas, but we feel we are being turned away by unrealistic demands. This will surely severely damage your economy. We hope further easing of restrictions will be forthcoming.

ROBERT M WILSON

Canada,

October 3, 2020.