By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Tribune Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

BEGINNING on Monday, citizens and residents of The Bahamas will no longer need a travel health visa to come home from abroad, Tourism, Investments and Aviation Minister Chester Cooper announced yesterday.

He said despite this change, testing requirements will remain in place and visitors with citizenship in other jurisdictions will still need a travel health visa to enter the country.

The move was welcomed by Health Minister Dr Michael Darville.

He told reporters following a tour of Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre that due to “so much complications” with the visa application process, the government decided to do away with the requirement for Bahamians.

Mr Cooper said revoking the requirement was a campaign promise by the Progressive Liberal Party now fulfilled.

The health visa was implemented in November 2020 and had a fee attached in order to be obtained.

“Our administration promised a review of all of the contracts associated with (The) Bahamas travel health visa,” Mr Cooper told House of Assembly members yesterday. “I am pleased to report that that review has been done and continues and renegotiations are underway with respect to all of our partners.

 “Further, members would recall that the Progressive Liberal Party never felt that this Bahamas travel health visa should apply to Bahamian citizens and permanent residents who call The Bahamas home.

 “It was both a financial and regulatory burden on Bahamians and we vowed to stop it. Shortly after we came to office, we assessed the programme and eliminated the fees for Bahamian citizens and residents and eliminated the visa altogether for inter-island travel.

 “The visa was left in place for visitors along with the attending fees. After assessing the programme, we are pleased to announce that as of Monday, December 13, 2021, Bahamians and residents will no longer be required to obtain a health travel visa to enter their beautiful home.

 “The PLP promised to end the travel health visa for Bahamians and residents that was implemented by the previous administration and we are doing just that. This administration plans to take its promises to the Bahamian people seriously.

 “I want to stress further that the testing requirements will remain in place for all travellers.”

 The Exuma and Ragged Island MP said there had been recent technical issues with the health visa digital platform, adding Cable Bahamas—the government’s data host—has been asked to create the proper contingency plan moving forward.

 “On December 5 and again on December 6, the processing of The Bahamas tourism health visa platform experienced interruptions and delays for a short period on each day. This was reportedly due to power outages and other technical glitches at Cable Bahamas that serves as the government data host. This was most unacceptable and regrettable.

 “We, therefore, apologise to the travelling public for this inconvenience. I have asked that our service providers put in place the appropriate redundancy so that this does not recur.”

 The minister said while the testing protocols are under review by the Ministry of Health, tourism officials have been consulted in order to ensure a balanced approach that protects citizens and the industry.

 He went on to emphasise the health visa has been a helpful tool in information gathering and marketing.

 “We emphasise that the travel health travel visa will remain in place for tourists and visitors - travellers from abroad who are not Bahamians or residents of The Bahamas - for the foreseeable future.

 “We believe that this provides a level of protection for the health and safety of all in The Bahamas by vetting the authenticity of documents by the travel health visa programme well in advance of travel.

 “The visa has allowed us to gather key data for analysis and marketing, and the means to better communicate events that may impact travel.

 “We foreshadow further, that the manual immigration landing card will be eliminated in due course. We are satisfied that once this process is also digitised, it will create a further convenience to our tourists and foreign business travellers,” Mr Cooper said.