If they think productivity is based or even judged on passing 3 exams with c or better then the ppl with literacy issues aren't limited to the kids!!! Especially if ya ga blame lack of productivity on these children without considering their lackluster and no talent having bosses and business owners.

I'm confident that the number of persons in the workforce with degrees has increased over the decades. Bachelors degree is entry level in banks now. Before it was 5 GCEs. So some of these 70% children must be improving themselves after graduation. I did and became a valedictorian at COB and went on to obtain other designations.

Mr. Myers should consider the math himself and stop using limited data to make conclusions about complex subjects.

These comments look bad but the reality is this has been going on in banks for many years and not just foreign banks ... Bahamian banks too. Part of the reason is that many more Bahamians are getting degrees and persons with degrees and no experience have had to take entry level positions in order to get experience. Once that started the banks made the obvious decisions to increase the minimum requirements because more and more college graduates were applying for these entry level positions to get their feet in the door. Now that this train has left the gate it's hard to stop it. And I believe we all know that it's really hard to find good help. Those of us who have had to hire people certainly have experienced the challenges. Successive governments have recognized this challenge and have tried to some degree to address it. We still have a long say to go to help our young people prepare for the challenges of the work place.

Sheer volumes will make this unmanageable unless they multiply resources (i.e. staffng). This goal is very interesting because it puts this administration's apparant commitment to run the country like a "for profit" business against the need to provide and improve services with little to no financial benefit. It not like doing this will result in more people applying for business license.

Even so, is this even possible to achieve? Maybe in the most simple businesses, but definitely not in many cases. We still need to ensure that businesses operate in proper zoning, make sure that buildings are up to snuff to protect staff and customers and that they are environmentally safe and make sure that persons are not avoiding outstanding taxes (like NIB if you want to consider this a tax). Further, some businesses require regulatory approvals from places like Central Bank, Securities Commissions, Insurance Commissions, etc. and the timelines for these regulators are often quoted in WEEKS when you apply to them.

Its hard to know if the delays are due to staff shortages, bad performance, poor management or inefficient processes (or maybe all of the above). Until we address all, it will be most difficult to achieve this target, much less to sustain it.

I see a bait and switch coming.

Did the DPM admit to a fishing expedition and worse, that he doesnt care how much it costs the taxpayers???

"whatever is spent it is going to be beneficial to the country long term. It is money that I think is necessary to ensure that we discover what has happened (and) why it has happened."

WOW!!!

The half yearly unemployment rate is normally updated just after Carnivale. If they cant find a Suitor to take this over, it will be interesting to see the impact on both unemployment and GDP (i.e. how much money actually flows during Carnivale).

This article concerns me from a few perspectives.

I am concerned that the Minister is using an overly simplistic argument to justify making a change to a complex matter, which seems to be his modus operandi. Marketing is not simple. Any marketing dollar that **successfully** promotes The Bahamas will result in increased interest from potential visitors. Once interested, persons will look for a way to come to The Bahamas. Some will chose to come by air and some will prefer to come by cruise ship. Those that chose to come by cruise ship will have the choice of which island they want and some will chose Freeport. Ultimately, they will select the carrier that appeals to them. However, the underlying dollar that got this party started is not necessarily from the carrier, but they will benefit from that dollar in terms of being selected as the carrier of choice and secondly in terms of getting rewarded by the MOT based on this new strategy. In this example, did the new MOT strategy actually result in a direct increase in tourism??? NO!!! However, the new strategy will still reward the carrier thus making this strategy ineffective and doing exactly what he claims it will solve - swinging The Bahamas.

Second, this article does not speak to budget so its impossible to evaluate it properly. e.g. How much was spent in the past based on the previous strategy and how does that compare to the new strategy using the same volumes in visitor arrivals? Without this information, its impossible to evaluate which strategy is better in terms of total cost.

Third, how will this new strategy be managed? Do we have a cost effective and reliable way to both **obtain and check** the information on excursion versus stop over visitors from the carriers. I would not just trust them to provide the breakdown without having checks and balances in place. Unless we know how this will be implemented, again, we cant evaluate the approrpiateness of this decision. The administrative cost could be high and frankly, I'd prefer to spend the money in Ads than admin stuff.

Fourth, what are the carriers saying about this change? It would be good to know their thoughts before we make a conclusion about this.