You want to penalize tourists when there is no testing available on the island they are visiting?
Don't believe everything you read in the news.

"travellers can very easily obtain a rapid antigen test throughout The Bahamas"
I have to call bulls--t on this statement. It was fine to look the other way on this, as evidenced by the news that 21,000 travelers did not take the test, until the CDC announcement. Now these half truths are unacceptable and insulting to those of us in the Family Islands who know better. The test is not available on my island. What part of that don't you understand?

I am writing from a Family Island. It is very simple. The government mandated test is not available at the Government Clinic. Visitors simply leave the country at the end of their stay.

Amazed at the number of complaints coming from Canada. Could the difficulty be that upon returning home Canadians need to quarantine for 14 days?

Meanwhile, ordinary customers (as opposed to the unaccountable elite) struggle with the lack of service from the Bank of The Bahamas everyday. Only open 2 days each week, no ATM here on the island. Lost their clearing privileges (and hid that fact from the public) ages ago so we can no longer deposit a cheque drawn on a non-Bahamian bank. Think about what that means for those in the tourism business. So we have no choice but to have our customers wire their payments to us for an additional fee of $20 each and every time! Or pay by credit card and pay the fees to the bank.
I have been a customer for over 20 years, maintain a 5 figure balance, do not bounce cheques and cannot have simple overdraft privileges. Would be useful while I wait for compliance to ok my wire transfers in.
And they have saved the best for last. No online banking. Their online banking system has been down since the beginning of November "while they migrate their platform" and can't commit to a date when the system will be back up. What bull! I can only wonder what they are hiding from us now.

Sure, spend money to tell us what we already know......the high cost is the fuel surcharge and the government has always had it in their power to reduce the fuel surcharge. Reduce the 100% duty on fuel!

Here here Banker. Mr. Smith: spout that garbage to a Cuban/Floridian I know whose parents were lined up and shot by a firing squad.

Babies are indeed seasonal
Concieved at Christmas born in September

This is not news anymore. The Department of Marine Resources and The Ministry of Tourism have already come out and said that this is not going to happen in The Bahamas. In other words...do it yourself flats fishing is not going to be banned. There was so much negative publicity generated by this proposed legislation and the negative impact on the industry so great that MOT issued a press release to this effect. Most Bahamians have no idea of the damage potentially unleashed by a minority handful of guides and the potential damage averted by those of us that fought hard behind the scenes to stop them. Requiring all foreign anglers to hire guides was only the tip of the iceberg. They had more anti foreign demands such as getting all non Bahamians out of the business. This is not a new agenda.....this has been going on without legs for a least 15 to 20 years. Hmmm one might say it took a Minister with no understanding of the industry to let It all get as far as it did.

The government wants first world services on a third world tax base.