By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

WORKS Minister Desmond Bannister has suggested there could be new health and safety protocols implemented at the Nassau Straw Market when it re-opens to safeguard vendors and visitors from contracting COVID-19.

“As soon as we open up, we want the vendors to be able to have a wonderful place that people are attracted to,” Mr Bannister said recently. “The other thing is they are going to do some things inside also. It is absolutely critical, and I can’t emphasise this too much, it’s absolutely critical that we have the appropriate environment inside that market so that vendors can stay safe.”

“We’re still in a pandemic. It’s going to be very important for us to change the way we do things, many things and so we’re going to do some things to ensure that vendors are safe. We’re going to consult with them but we’re going to ensure that they are safe and also our guests that come to this country are as safe as possible.”

He added that representatives from the straw market are also consulting with health officials concerning the market’s re-opening protocols.

“The straw market authority is constantly seeking advice from the Ministry of Health and that’s why I indicated to you that we have to do some modifications inside. The way that we did things in the past can’t be the way we do things in the future,” the deputy prime minister also said.

“It has to be a primary concern that the vendors in there are safe. It has to be a primary concern that the visitors to this country are safe and so there will be some procedures in there that will be discussed with vendors and those things will have to be put in place.”

The Straw Market was ordered closed in March along with many other non-essential businesses after the country recorded its first COVID-19 cases.

Although several downtown businesses have since re-opened, the tourist site remains closed – a situation some observers have attributed to the uncertainty surrounding the cruise industry’s return to the Bahamas.

Asked when the public can expect to see operations resume at the Straw Market , Mr Bannister said the matter depends on the country’s mass vaccination efforts.

He told reporters: “We’re hoping as the prime minister indicated to be able to vaccinate this entire country in a very short period of time and we believe that once that vaccinations are in place, we’re going to be able to fully open up the country and tourists will come back and they’re going to want to go in the market. It is going to have to be ready for them, but it’s going to have to be a new focus on that market, a new focus on safety.”

However, in the meantime, the deputy prime minister said beautification works are continuing at the popular tourist attraction. However, he could not give a timeline as to when those works will be completed.

“The first thing you saw was the tenting of it and the termite eradication and now you see the painting but what you won’t see is some of the things that are going on inside so it's an ongoing process to ensure that the straw market really represents the best of our people,” Mr Bannister said.

“…The chair of the straw market authority Ms (Kelly) Ingraham has been working for the last two years to come up with an iconic design that’s going to represent what our straw market ought to look like on Bay Street and I think when you see the colours, they will really pop so we want the straw market to be a major attraction for tourism on Bay Street,” he said.