There is an ongoing conflict between health professionals and financial professionals about tourism entry requirements. Due to the harsh rules our visitors have dropped 95% and our major economic activity has collapsed. We cannot continue for much longer on this path. The way things are now even visitors who want to come mostly cannot fulfill the requirements within five dsys. There are too many hassles and people who are travelling are going elsewhere. If we had only allowed visitors and returning residents to bring a Covid19 test result with them and had not imposed the Health Visa and five day arrival from test we would have had far more visitors and our economy would not have suffered so much. Keeping people away resulting in mass unemployment is not the answer.

What the Union leadership should have been worried about months ago was the imposition by the Government of such harsh unworkable entry requirements that a lot of tourism was lost to The Bahamas when there were months where tourism was feasible. Numerous letters of concern were published in The Tribune from travel agents, winter residents and Bahamians that they could not fulfill the rules in the short five day period from test to arrival. The Minister of Tourism stubbornly refused to make any changes. The Health Visa requirement has turned away large numbers of prospective visitors. Now we see the result. We are 95% down in tourist arrivals and mass unemployment has happened. Where did the Union leaders think visitors would come from under the circumstances? None of them said anything. Our economy has been severely affected by these ongoing policies.

It has been so difficult for visitors and returning residents to fulfill all the entry requirements that we are unlikely to see many visitors until the harsh measures are eased. Despite so many complaints the Tourism Minister stubbornly refuses to ease them. Very few people can get to The Bahamas within five days of the expensive Covid19 PCR test. It just takes too long to get test results, scan them for the bureaucratic Health Visa, wait for permission to travel and then take one of the very few flights operating to Nassau by the fifth day. We continue to lose many visitors who would have travelled to us. With unemployment at record levels the rules have been a total disaster. After all no one can come without a test so why introduce the time limits and the unnecessary Health Visa. Many people question whether we can ever recover from these disastrous policies.

Prince Philip made an outstanding contribution to the worldwide Commonwealth of Nations. He joined the Royal Navy during World War Two,served with other naval members from several Commonwealth nations, and was a naval hero in his actions with the enemy. Later he established The Duke of Edinburgh Award Programme which gave skills development to millions of young people throughout the Commonwealth and beyond. He was the founding Chairman of the World Wildlife Fund and his actions there brought environmental concerns to the forefront in the media. He was Colonel-in-Chief of several military regiments in many Commonwealth countries . He ably served as consort to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II who is our symbol of the freedom and democracy we enjoy with our parliamentary system. The Royal Family has always held the Bahamian people in the highest regard. The support which Prince Philip gave to our Queen during over 73 years of marriage has benefited all of us in the Commonwealth. He will be truly missed by all fair minded people here and overseas.

A truly dedicated person to all the people in The Commonwealth. Prince Philip will be truly missed. A lifetime of service to other people in so msny endeavours especially The Duke of Edinburgh Award programme for young people and his Chairmanship of The World Wildlife Fund. I recall the Royal visits to The Bahamas with happy memories.

The testing is destroying our tourist business with overseas countries. Expensive Covid19 tests , bureaucratic Health Visa requirements and further testing after arrival have all but put an end to a tourism recovery. Now Bahamians are seeing the same problems which our prospective overseas visitors and returning residents have faced for several months. They cannot comply within the short five day period. There are so many hassles involved with coming here that people are travelling elsewhere where it is far easier to enter. Our unemployment has risen sharply with these anti-visitor policies. Yet the Tourism Minister stubbornly refuses to ease these harsh restrictions.

The gentleman has made valid points. Insulting people who had enough confidence in The Bahamas to purchase a property and live here part of the year should not happen. We have always treated visitors in a kind and courteous manner. The lack of tourists should be a concern for everyone. I know several people who cannot complete all the requirements and be in Nassau within five days. Lack of test centres near where they live, test results taking a long time to arrive even by email, submitting all the Health Visa forms and not knowing when they get permission to travel and then finding a flight or connecting flights in coordination with the approval of the Health Visa all create too much uncertainty. So few flights these days as a result. Most people cannot be bothered with all these hassles. Insulting people does not get us anywhere. Our visitors come from many areas not just big cities near us where travelling to us may be easier to complete.

Canada has been a longtime friend of The Bahamas. Air Canada has been flying from Toronto to Nassau since 1947. Canadians have always enjoyed vacations here and many have become permanent residents. It is a fellow Commonwealth member and this has drawn us together even more over the years. We should never turn away assistance from friends of this country who help us willingly and ask nothing in return. Canadians are nearly always very friendly and courteous and are well liked in The Bahamas.

Our tourism industry has been severely impacted by the pandemic. However our travel protocols have turned away tourism to such an extent that it will be a long time before we ever recover .Despite so many legitimate complaints from many people- travel agents, returning residents, winter visitors and our own returning Bahamians the Tourism Minister and staff have stubbornly refused to ease the harsh entry rules. We are now seeing the result of these actions. Our tourist numbers are down over 90% and visitors have gone to other southern destinations which have been far easier to enter. Most people have been unwilling to go through all the hassles necessary to get to our country. They must have Covid19 tests which have often been hard to obtain for healthy people, exorbitant fees when available, two days and more to get results, applications sent to Nassau with results and other forms, uncertainty of when permission will be granted, few flights available to coordinate all of these measures. and then having to get there within five days of the test. . It does not end there as they must have tests during their stay and tests to return home. Now the Tourism Ministry wants vaccines on top of all of this at least for cruise ship passengers. It is ludicrous to expect people will be bothered to go through all these hassles just to come to The Bahamas. There are far too many other places to visit where they do not have these problems to enter. Until these measures are severely eased we will never rebound in tourist numbers.

Until the Tourism Minister and staff ease the entry rules our tourism will never rebound significantly. It is just too complicated and time consuming to enter our Bahamas. There are far too many other southern destinations which are far easier to enter. Some of our own Bahamians have written nasty responses on here to overseas people complaining that they cannot complete all the formalities within the short five day time period from the Covid19 PCR test until landing in Nassau.It is easier said than done. I had a call this morning from friends in New England whose travel agent let them know that cruises will start back in July. But when they heard of all the requirements of expensive tests,Health Visas , lack of adequate flights and now a vaccine they decided it was too cumbersome and will not come. People want to book without hassles. Every week we are losing valuable tourist business as a result of our entry requirements. Things have to change quickly or our tourism sector will take a very long time to recover. Where is the common sense?