By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

A Bahamian excursion operator yesterday said it was a “terrible decision” to limit tourist travel applications to within 14 days of arrival so as to prevent a health visa overload.

Iola Knowles, director of Sandytoes Excursion, hit out after Dionisio D’Aguilar, minister for tourism and aviation, revealed that the surge in travel demand sparked by The Bahamas’ May 1 elimination of mandatory COVID-19 tests for fully vaccinated visitors was “overwhelming” the website that approves health visa applications.

Applications have more than doubled from 2,000 per day to more than 5,000 per day since that date, and Mr D’Aguilar said the Government had been forced to impose a ‘within 14 days of travel’ restriction to reduce the volume of submissions by visitors seeking to obtain approvals for visits months in advance.

Ms Knowles said: “I think, if anything, they need to beef up the system to help travel and visitors so that they can accommodate more applications, because otherwise it’s just going to bottleneck.

“A lot of the tour operators are still suffering. They could use more business, and if they’re going to bottleneck for a 14-day window I don’t think that that’s a wise fit. I think if anything they should focus their efforts on beefing up the travel visa system so they can accommodate more applications.”

Mr D’Aguilar yesterday said his ministry is adding more personnel to enable them to process applications more efficiently. However, Wesley Ferguson, president of the Bahamas Taxi Cab Union (BTCU), said: “I guess once they get the message out properly, people who intend to travel to The Bahamas will have to make earlier arrangements.

“But I can tell you the amount of technology that is available, we have to be able to upgrade the system. I don’t see D’Aguilar (minster of tourism and aviation) implementing something only just last month and it is already antiquated.”

Mr Ferguson, backing Mr D’Aguilar’s call to “put all hands on deck”, added: “If the government is serious about this industry being revamped and organised in the COVID-19 environment, they will have to put the resources in place and the necessary technology to accommodate the influx of tourists.”

Nicholas Pinder, general manager of Born Free Fishing Charters, said the health travel visa woes will likely cause a problem for tour operators and the Government needs to sort the matter out rapidly. “They will just have to figure a way through it,” he said.