The testing is free if you want to wait a week or even 10 ten days for the results. If you need the results in 48 hours, you've got to pay at a private clinic.

The bottom line, is that it doesn't matter what the pros or cons think about this issue. Reality will decide the final outcome. When the number of tourists does not rise, then perhaps people in the Bahamas will question the system. Unfortunately by then many repeat visitors like the gentleman from NJ here may have discovered greener pastures in Cayman or St. Martin or elsewhere and decide to become repeat visitors there instead.

The cost of this COVID nonsense is going to come out more and more as 2021 goes along. All of the true foolishness will be brought to light. Right now people have all kinds of information that they are just holding on to, awaiting the right time to speak. Right now you cannot speak or else you are called a killer. Nobody wants to be called a killer. Eventually society will wake up to realize that Covid is not the only thing that kills people. Amazing, I read an article that says the CDC does not plan to issue any figures for flu infections this winter - guess they gonna mark them all as Covid ?

It's like the joke about the guy in the Everglades swampland in Florida who was eaten by an alligator one afternoon a few weeks ago. He died later that same evening of Covid.

"He added that the BHMA, and unions in general, were not opposed to Christmas bonus cuts given the financial realities imposed on their employers by the pandemic, but argued that the issue needed to be discussed with the recognised bargaining agent first prior to a unilateral decision being taken and the members informed."

He is 100% correct. It is a matter of disrespect. This seems to happen a lot with govt as well, just making decisions without consultation. Anyone who thinks the union is wrong here, either didn't read the article completely, or needs to move to Saudi Arabia or some other dictatorship right away, so they can be comfortable.

Good points. I've been writing for over a year for someone to say what is the amount of money involved. Only now, after the ship has sailed (literally) is this information coming out. The only cry we've heard is "save the environment." Well, that's a good cry - but what were we balancing that against. Also I've asked where would the money go. Again, only recently did we learn that the money would go into the invisible hole of our national treasury and not to Bahamians directly.

I pleaded that we hear both sides of the story. How much money? Who would get it? Yet, all we heard was "save the beaches" and stuff like that. We needed to hear both sides.

Now that we have, I agree that there is not enough money here to make it worthwhile. 250M would be about 1000 for every eligible Bahamian per year. A thousand bucks a year is not a lot of money.

Of course, if we balance that out against the $200 every five years that is rumored to be paid for people's votes - that works out to only $40 per year and people are willing to sell out democracy for that. So maybe more analysis is needed as to what our values truly are.

The dumbing down is complete because people will not listen to experienced doctors like Dr. Jane Orient who recently appeared before a Senate Panel hosted by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis).
The media would not cover this event either, but amazingly it is still available on Youtube.
When people refuse to hear both sides of a story, then they are stuck with the side they are being fed. Right now they are being fed an economic disaster and a who-knows-what "vaccine" solution, instead a the cheap and simple prevention of HCQ&Zinc.
Look at the countries of Africa where social distancing in hut villages is simply impossible. Running water to wash hands is scarce. You would think they would be dying like crazy over there. No - they are not. Look at worldometer for the figures. The reason? HCQ. It is freely available over the counter. Meanwhile countries like France and the USA only recently outlawed the ability for even doctors to prescribe it. Why would they prevent doctors from prescribing it? Where are these reports they claim to have - the ones where it was tried on 90 years olds a few hours before death and then said "No, it couldn't save them." Of course it couldn't, and nobody has suggested it could. It has to be given early on.
The level of intelligence has reached a new low globally, and freedoms are surely out the window when doctors are having the licenses revoked for saving lives. There is MUCH more to this story than meets the eye, but instead we hear the same old same old stories day after day after day in the news media.

I can't say anything better than Bonefish said - so let me keep quiet - LOL.

I feel sorry for them, because without tourists their bosses will find all kind of silly "make work" projects for them to do in order to 'earn their keep'.

"and while there may not be a rush to visit right away, the resort has high hopes for the start of next year."

may not be a rush? Of course there won't be. It is near impossible to take a vaccine test on Monday morning, get the results back if luck in 2 days, send to nassau and get the health visa is 2 days and then book a flight and hotel and actually arrive in nassau by Saturday to meet the 5 day deadline. Nobody is going to take a chance with all that. Only people who fly private jets would come to any of our hotels.

high hopes for next year? There will be no change next year unless government takes away the silly process I described above. ALSO people cannot pay rent and buy food with "hopes". Trust me. I tried it once at a major food store in Nassau. I offered the best hopes to the cashier that I would pay her next Friday - but she declined to allow me to bag my groceries and leave the store with them.

""We're waiting for everything to be finalised. It hasn't changed. The Government has got other priorities right now. We couldn't do anything with it previously; the pandemic, cruise ships pulling out and tourism going to zero."

So are you suggesting that the government can't walk and chew gum at the same time?

Also, the further waiting that is required should not be a problem because every Bahamian has a Ph.D. in Waitology.

Anything to deflect from that Bill that Lincoln Bain got tabled in the House. Gotta protect the aragonite money. Look over here !!! Look over there !!! Besides, there's no money in aragonite right? Of course, there isn't. LOL.

Yes, we all know that Europe fell under the dictatorial rule of George Soros many years ago. Their identify and culture is being wiped out more and more every day. In less than ten years the only thing "European" about Europe will be the land itself (and that's assuming Iran doesn't nuke it).

Everything now is for "your safety", while they implement their Satanic systems.

It's funny how you say "...used in airports for years" as if that makes it alright. Why didn't the Supreme Court here rule then against the Kenyan refugee and place him back in the Detention Center simply saying "He's been being tortured for years." The "for years" part is supposed to make everything alright. Al Capone could have been set free too, he had been robbing banks "for years."