Chester Cooper is new to this position and is,sadly, taking advice from the Tourism Ministry officials who have helped to seriously damage our tourism by implementing the Health Visa. I am told by travel agencies in Canada and the U.S.A. that this cumbersome Visa is deterring bookings. People can travel with ease everywhere else so why come to The Bahamas with its cumbersome and expensive requirements. Now that Canada and the U.S.A. are requiring expensive PCR tests before returning for both residents and visitors and all the uncertainties involved in travel including sudden impositions of quarantines and stays at expensive airport hotels most people will not just bother to book anywhere. Many fear they will be stranded at their travel destination causing a multitude of problems.How our Tourism officials can seriously tell the Minister that we will not be affected is breathtaking in its inaccuracy. We have now severe competition from so many destinations compared to thirty years ago and we are falling behind. The Health Visa has just accelerated the problem. The PLP promised to abolish the Visa but as soon as Cooper was sworn in he declared it would continue!

An excellent article which needs to be read by our population. We have nothing to gain by changing a system which works well and has been a part of our history for a very long time. Canada has the same system and other than some hard core anti-Monarchists there are no public figures advocating abolishing the Monarchy. The system works well there with an impartial Governor-General just like here. In fact former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau worked with the Premiers of the ten provinces of Canada in 1982 to entrench the Monarchy in the Constitution and it is now extremely difficult to abolish it. Every Prime Minister since has supported the Monarchy quite openly, The current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is a very strong voice for supporting the Monarchy and The Queen and Royal family. A few months ago he said he would not discuss any change as the system works well . Let us heed our Canadian neighbours. Let us be proud of our history and of our Bahamas and maintain what works well in our country .

We have not been under The United Kingdom since our independence in July 1973. The U.K. never had any legal power here afterwards or in Barbados after their 1966 independence. We are an independent constitutional monarchy like Canada, Australia and New Zealand. We maintain the Westminster system which involves The Crown as protector of our freedom and represented by a Bahamian Governor-General, a free Parliament and an impartial Court system all of which we inherited from the U.K. This emotional nonsense that somehow we are not free until we get rid of our foundations is wrong. Barbados changed this system with little consultation and no referendum so it was hardly a democratic exercise. Look at history. . The track record of republics is very poor.

I totally agree with this writer's comments. How regional leaders could attend the ceremony with the way the republic was established is embarrassing. Not allowing the population to become involved in deciding their future and refusing a referendum is disgraceful and anti-democratic. As China becomes more involved in the Caribbean and issues demands in return for giving them money we shall likely see more of these types of measures. We gained our independence without any problems from The United Kingdom . Let us hope we do not surrender it to Communist China.

We are happy to hear all the rosy predictions from the Tourism Ministry and associates. However the reality is always different. When visitors can go nearly everywhere else without cumbersome and expensive Health Visas why should they come to our country anyway? On top of all those requirements there are these added health tests, quarantines etc. No one knows what the next rules will be as the virus spread is uncertain. By making our country one of the hardest to enter we have lost a lot of business. Yet even the hotel workers' union and affected businesses said little or nothing about the Visa deterrent. Most travelers will just decide to stay home as travelling overseas now is very uncertain.

There is no need for our country to become a republic. The stability of the Constitutional Monarchy system which we inherited from the U.K. has served us well. It is a finely balanced system with The Governor-General, Parliament and our Courts all involved.It ensures we have true democracy. We are independent and our Governor-General representing our independent Crown is a Bahamian. For international investors The Monarchy here is an assurance that their investments are safe. Surely we have so many economic problems at the moment this issue should never be on the forefront. Surely Fred. Mitchell and the "young" PLP M.P. which he mentions have enough work to be done without working against our Head of State. As to Barbados there has been opposition to this move but P.M. Mia Mottley refused to give the people a vote so that is hardly democratic. What does Fred Mitchell and the "young" PLP M.P. say to that undemocratic manouevre? The public were not even allowed to attend the private ceremony to initiate a republic. Look at the world- the track records of republics are very poor.

Let us maintain our historic and longtime traditions. We need to maintain this form of government for stability and investment confidence.

We would be better to have responsible development of the Out Islands for tourism rather than a proliferation of cruises. They do not give us the same revenue as land stays. All the potential damage to our crucial environment will increase with more and more cruise ships. The average Bahamian does not benefit from cruise ships.

I continue to wonder why this biased reporter still has a column in The Tribune. Every week it is full of criticism of the Republicans. It is never impartial. Why do we need such a column anyway? We are not Americans. There should be a column about Caribbean news or news stories from the U.K. or other Commonwealth countries of which we have been a part for over 300 years.

Unfortunately tourism will not rebound,despite the rosy predictions, until our vaccination rate is much higher, the cumbersome Health Visa which deters visitors is abolished and the travel advisory warnings against travelling to our country are lifted by the USA,Canada and the U.K.