By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

Family Island tourism operators yesterday suggested the government introduce electronic COVID-19 vaccination cards if it has doubts over whether the paper-based version can be verified.

Carl Rolle, manager of Rollezz Villas Beach Resort on Cat Island, told Tribune Business that the Minnis administration should go digital if the current paper-based “yellow card” is deemed too unreliable for determining - and tracking - if Bahamians are fully vaccinated.

He spoke out after Dionisio D’Aguilar, minister of tourism and aviation, said the COVID-19 PCR testing requirement for Bahamians travelling inter-island “may be removed” if the yellow vaccination card issued to those fully inoculated can be properly vetted.

Mr D’Aguilar said the health travel visa system needed to receive the necessary information in a way where it can be properly scrutinised and recorded in the travel database. This comes as the government allows fully vaccinated Americans and other visitors into The Bahamas without having to take a COVID-19 PCR test.

Mr Rolle said: “You have to have the card to travel, and it must be like a government ID where it could be authenticated.” He suggested that the government had to get to the current position at the Road Traffic Department where, rather than persons having a new photo every time they went to renew their driver’s licence, their images were stored in the system and merely uploaded.

“Something like that needs to be taken into consideration. It’s easy to get their hands on the technology; just go to the Ministry of Transport,” Mr Rolle added.

Cheryl Bastian, owner/operator of Swain’s Cay Lodge in Andros, echoed Mr Rolle’s assessment that an electronic card should be considered if the paper-based vaccination certification is not reliable.

She said: “They should do something like that. Maybe use a QR code or something to verify the vaccination status like a magnetic bar code, where they can put it right under a system and check people automatically instead of holding people up at the lines.”

Ms Bastian added that not lifting testing restrictions for fully vaccinated Bahamians will negatively impact the Family Islands. She said: “I was really looking forward to that because I travel often between Nassau and Andros.

“I have always been a frequent traveller and I just can’t wait for these restrictions being lifted. I think this will impact us because a lot of Bahamians are overwhelmed with visitors coming to The Bahamas, where the system is crashing or can’t sustain the number of people, so the removal of the restrictions would be good news in terms of not being able to take these tests.”

Matthew Brear, Cape Santa Maria’s general manager, said the government needs to “come up with a [vaccination] card that’s more legitimate”.

“What’s the point of having a card if you’re not going to accept it? If The Bahamas is producing a card for proof of vaccination, but it’s not accepting it as proof of vaccination in and of itself, then that in and of itself doesn’t make any sense,” he added.

Anthony K Hamilton, president of the Bahamas Association of Air Transport Operators, said: “I understand planning and we are under a crisis situation, but for efficiency and effectiveness, if the system isn’t working then it needs adjustment.

“Normally in a business process you go through planning, organising and implementation, and you continuously evaluate, so obviously the end result is that you need to make some adjustments.

“Understanding the socio-economic challenge we have in the nation, and the government being stuck between a rock and a hard place with really trying to make this thing work, engagement of the stakeholders is critical to this process because we need to ensure that inclusion and consultation is taking place so that it minimises disruption as much as possible.”

Mr Hamilton said maintaining existing testing requirements is going to affect traffic flow to Bahamian airports. “The thing is we have to be very holistic about this, and weigh all of the pros and cons, and that is why inclusion and consultation is so critical because you want to be holistic, you want to be practical, and you must also be relevant,” he added.