A very fine gentleman well deserving of his honour from Queen Elizabeth. A true Bahamian!

The comments about our Queen are excellent. She has served The Commonwealth with dedicated interest and faithful service since her youth. Her coming of age pledge in 1947 during the Royal visit to Cape Town South Africa that she would serve all the people of the Commonwealth for the rest of her life has happened. She is most deserving of our ongoing support.

As long as we keep these expensive and time consuming entry requirements in place we will never recover. We have lost a lot of business to other southern destinations because of these hassles. Yet the Government ignored all the legitimate complaints and kept these job killing policies in place. Is it any wonder visitors are not coming? It is far easier to go practically anywhere else? Why bother with The Bahamas? All very concerning to our local tourist facilities and stores in this country.

There have been ongoing complaints to both the old and new government for two years about the difficult ,expensive and cumbersome requirements to enter our country. But all complaints seem to not have been taken seriously. Keeping the 3 day pre-travel antigen test is a prime example of a policy not very well thought out. There is a massive shortage of these tests in both the U.S. A. and Canada. Where available results can take up to 48 hours to be returned. that leaves a day or less to get the health visa, travel to airports and actually arrive by the third day. No wonder people are not coming. They cannot complete all these requirements. Why isn't just a double vaccination certificate sufficient to travel here? We need visitors as our economy is in serious shape right now. You would think common sense would dictate these policies. But it is certainly lacking at the moment.

Sadly with all the hassles and expense involved in completing the Health Visa and obtaining tests to enter and re-enter their countries visitors are not coming in the numbers as before. There are too many uncertainties. The Government will not ease the rules so we all suffer from the tourism downturn.

I cannot see any benefit to our country by abolishing a system which has worked well for a long time. We are beneficiaries of the monarchy system and this has provided us with stability. Investment has come our way as a result. Why risk a change which could well lead us to another failed third world republic?. Even the author of the article cannot guarantee us success. The Caribbean Court of Appeal has met with mixed reactions and cannot compare to the highly professional impartial Privy Council in London. We have far more serious problems than taking a chance on a republic.

Until we see the end of all these hassles to enter our country we will not see a return to the pre-Covid19 travel numbers. The Health Visa is a nuisance and even the Minister admitted last month that it is no longer for health but for "marketing information".It has become a tax to enter. Then they added the need for a rapid antigen test no older than 3 days to enter even though the visitor has a double vaccination certificate. I understand there is a great shortage of those tests in our main markets in the U.S.A. In Canada they are only available in a few locations in Ontario and British Columbia with a waiting period of 48 hours for results. That leaves an impossible one day to apply for the Visa, get on an airplane or airplanes and be in Nassau by the third day. Mostly impossible unless you are very lucky. That does not give you much confidence to make a booking with all those uncertainties. As letter writer said last week " No wonder hotels in The Bahamas are closing". Yet the Tourism Minister and staff refuse to ease the rules. When will common sense prevail?

We would not benefit by abolishing our current reliable form of government. Republics have very poor track records . Corruption and dictatorship often follow. Just look at all the failed third world republics. Our system with its impartial courts has encouraged investment. Who could trust a republic's courts? The Caribbean Court of Justice has had a mixed reception and has struck no sense of confidence in many quarters including investors. The Privy Council in London is a well respected Commonwealth Court of Appeal with impartial judges of the highest legal standard. Why would we want our Bahamas to adopt a republic based mainly on emotional reasons which are questionable? Let us keep what works.

This is an excellent letter. When our Tourism Ministry introduced all these rules there does not seem to have been much research as to how visitors would react to all the hassles. We have just got used to tourists coming no matter what. However now we have a lot of competition and people can go to so many other southern resorts with far easier entry rules. Why bother having to go through all the time consuming and expensive rules to come to us? Even regular visitors are going elsewhere. Tourism Minister Chester Cooper should have kept their election promise to abolish all the Health Visas. We are all suffering from this tourist decline. But,so far, the officials are stubbornly keeping these unworkable measures.

Until our Government eases up on the entry rules and similar measures are reduced in the U.S.A.,U.K. and Canada to return there we are not going to have pre-Covid tourist numbers For many people it is too complicated to come to us and to return to their own countries. There are massive shortages of rapid antigen tests in the U.S.A. and Canada and yet we brought out the new rule of a 3 day old at maximum rapid antigen test to enter. How people would get that,await the result, get the Health Visa and a flight here within 3 days is a great problem. People simply cannot be bothered going through all the expensive hassles to come here. The Health Visa has simply become a tax for visitors. The Minister says it is for "marketing information" yet this has depressed tourist numbers. A recent international survey found interest in going on cruises has crashed. People do not want to be on large vessels with a large number of people. It does not appear that our tourism "experts" have thought through the problems which result from these difficult policies. Visitors do not have to come to our country. There are lots of other destinations with far easier entry rules.