I agree. It was botched and maybe the island could have opened. The community needs to do its part. Even opening the borders, it’s not like the same amount of tourists will flock to the islands. People are hesitant to travel. Let the small amount that want to travel come and spend money.

Other Caribbean islands and resorts have been open since July. Other island nations have had low cases even with tourism. Precautions have to be taken and people need to get back to work. Tourism is a huge industry and can’t be shut down longer. Atlantis will re open In December and it may just be the Royal

Will tourists even want to come? How will tourism bounce back? If tourists aren’t wanted, why would they show up?

Atlantis has an opportunity to put Bahamians back to work! Show the country they are a leader. Not wait for baha mar to open. Atlantis should work with the government to reopen safely and with that play the political game. It’s bad enough the government bowed to China and drove Kerzner out.

Opening for tourism won’t bring back the amount of tourists there was last year or years past. Ideally nearly 20-30% of tourists will return. Also, the tourists have more to fear. They would be coming from places that have had the virus run through it’s community, have to get on a plane, and then interact with the community. Tourists would have to prove to be COVID negative before getting into the country. The local community shouldn’t fear the tourists, the tourists should be wary of the local community for they won’t know if that person has COVID or not. Everyone will know a tourist is negative from the virus.

When you look at when the border opened, the community opened. The virus has been on the islands since December 2019 as it’s been global for that long. The government should reopen the community and see what happens prior to opening borders. Doing it at the same time will be disastrous. Aruba did it right from the start, they reopened in July. It spread in the community and not from tourism. Tourists need to prove they are COVID negative prior to being let into the country. Insurance is also purchased. This will help the health system if in fact a tourist needs to use services. The Bahamas should have never shut down since the spike upon reopening was not from tourists. Baha mar and Atlantis will most likely be hurting for years to come. Those resorts need to open. Marriott in Aruba has been open with no links of virus at the resort. It’s sad the Bahamian govt has decimated the tourism industry. Now it seems they are begging their two mega resorts to Open. It’s too late, they already instilled fear.