"an increase of 19 per cent over our 2015 record of arrivals and signalling in the marketplace the revitalisation of the Bahamas tourism brand."

There is growing pushback aimed at an escalating and uncontrollable crime rate in the Bahamas.

Did Christie factor in the evidence that the global tourism industry has already started to eliminate the Bahamas from their tourism destinations? Seems they agree with clients who say why spend all that money just to be victimized by criminals and told by the police that "this never happens in the Bahamas."

This will not go well for the tourism industry in the Bahamas. It's a dangerous place for Bahamians and tourists alike. Bahamians are stuck with a broken system and no apparently way out - unless the appeal to the world to look closer at how crime is treated like a normal fixture in the islands. Something stinks in the politics and finance of keeping people safe and secure.

Time for vigilante justice or mercenaries hired to face criminals. The problem is far worse than government will ever admit.
If they deny there is problem, there is nothing they are required to do. Problem solved from their perspective.
It's not like they will ever be a victim of crime from their perch on that pedestal with protection provided thanks to other people's money.
Until the tourism industry is effectively killed off by crime, nothing will change.

Give the government no incentive to reduce crime and you have a real problem. If the people settle for a farce that passes for law enforcement and legislative and judicial systems that are effectively impotent in fighting crime, you have a real problem. Who sets the standards and who holds anyone accountable? Give the government the power to do little or nothing and you have a real problem. So yeah, why blame the government? It's not like they have responsibility to do anything such as fighting crime using methods that average Bahamian is not allowed to employ.

That's the difference between mall cops and real cops.

Yeah that's all fine to some extent, to some people, but it's not the reason a black man picks up a gun and robs, rapes or murders anyone. It's the belief that the world owes them a living for past transgressions that actually had nothing to do with the choices they make now. No one denies them and education and although they may be denied a job in some places, not everyone is a racist and thus will be hired based on merit, not color. But that's not the demographic that is robbing, raping, and murdering people to make a living. It's most often the people who quit school and make themselves unemployable and thus by one single stupid choice, subjected to a lifetime of poverty. Poverty is given as the leading cause of crime in many discussions. That's like saying lung cancer kills without considering a history of smoking or working in a toxic work place.
The genie is out of the bottle and criminals aren't going anywhere on their own. Incarceration is costly and in the case of those who murder innocent victims, it's a waste of funds. The death penalty must be used more effectively to purge the ranks of the most violent criminals.
Doesn't look like the Bahamas have the stomach for that so expect to see the world piling on the negative press and exposing not just the crime but the lack of transparency about the crime rate and who is being victimized and how often crime occurs along with the kind of crimes being committed.
It will take awhile but the tourism industry will take and the crime rate will spike with massive layoffs The criminals will have fewer targets and thus the victims will find themselves getting robbed every time they get off the boat - so to speak.
Fix it or lose it all.

Unless and until the death penalty is used more for sentencing in murder cases nothing will change. First of all it reduces the population of murderers who will never be rehabilitated and the correction system doesn't correct anything. It breeds more violent and sophisticated criminals. Until the government employs more violence to combat violence, the thugs will go happily on their way, raping, robbing and murdering. Decoys are needed who are trained to kill killers. Nothing will get better until the problem of crime and criminals is dealt with more "effectively."

I grew up on New Providence. I attended Xavier and St. Augustines. It was a great place back then. Now has the highest crime rate in the Caribbean. It's rated baed on the metrics, not opinions, more dangerous than Iran. the Ukraine and even Detroit - the former murder capital of the world.
No it's neither isolated nor internal. Tourists are victimized frequently. The crime rate is escalating at rates that should be alarming but strangely, are not being effectively addressed.
The crime rate in Nassau has escalated largely due to the manner in which government fails to deal effectively deal with crime and criminals and the tourism industry hides the problem. Harsh sentences and more transparency is needed.
Eventually, the tourism industry will become the target of agencies and countries that take a stand against the dangerous, life threatening environment in the Bahamas. The head in the sand approach isn't working.
Money talks and when the tourism industry in the Bahamas suffers, it will be too late to be proactive and get a handle of the two best strategies to curb crime and the death of tourism.
Officials in the Bahamas have a very bad habit of denying the problem of crime. Each tourist victimized by indigenous thugs is told by police that, "this has never happened before." How about not lying to victims of crime? They can simply look it up and find that they were lied to and then do what intelligent people do. Ask themselves why? What do these equivalents of mall cops have to gain by lying?
That kind of deceit deserves the negative press coming from around the world. Nothing will change until the bottom line is severely, adversely affected.
The first step is give the death penalty, not a counterproductive sentences like we saw in the sentencing phases of the murder trial of a US soldier.
At the same time, the government needs to armed decoys, mercenaries if necessary, into the population who shoot to kill. It's not harsh, it's how these criminals learn to take their trade some place else or be buried on boot hill.
Here's one possible scenario of how this will all go terribly out of control for the not too bring people behind this failure to communicate - to thugs and tourists alike.
Once the conspiracy theorists get busy, expect to see the story floated that the crime rate is not uncontrolled, that is very closely controlled and facilitated by the current methods employed by the government and tourism industry. No proof will be needed. It's never needed for conspiracies to get started and perpetuate. However that's not to say proof won't be suggested, such as in government is directly benefitting from the criminal enterprise in the Bahamas as in, the thugs work for them. The tourism industry hides the crime rate to provide a constant supply of easy targets for criminals.

The crime rate in Nassau has escalated largely due to the manner in which government fails to deal effectively deal with crime and criminals and the tourism industry hides the problem. Harsh fines and sentences and more transparency is needed.
Eventually, the tourism industry will become the target of agencies and countries that take a stand against the dangerous, life threatening environment in the Bahamas.
Money talks and when the tourism industry in the Bahamas suffers, it will be too late to be proactive and get a handle of the two best strategies to curb crime and the death of tourism.
Officials in the Bahamas have a very bad habit of denying the problem of crime. Each tourist victimized by indigenous thugs is told by police that, "this has never happened before." How about not lying to victims of crime? They can simply look it up and find that they were lied to and then do what intelligent people do. Ask themselves why? What do these equivalents of mall cops have to gain by lying?
That kind of deceit deserves the negative press coming from around the world. Nothing will change until the bottom line is severely, adversely affected.
The first step is give the death penalty, not a counterproductive sentences like we saw in the sentencing phases of the murder trial of a US soldier.
At the same time, the government needs to armed decoys, mercenaries if necessary, into the population who shoot to kill. It's not harsh, it's how these criminals learn to take their trade some place else or be buried on boot hill.
Here's one possible scenario of how this will all go terribly out of control for the not too bring people behind this failure to communicate - to thugs and tourists alike.
Once the conspiracy theorists get busy, expect to see the story floated that the crime rate is not uncontrolled, that is very closely controlled and facilitated by the current methods employed by the government and tourism industry. No proof will be needed. It's never needed for conspiracies to get started and perpetuate. However that's not to say proof won't be suggested, such as in government is directly benefitting from the criminal enterprise in the Bahamas as in, the thugs work for them. The tourism industry hides the crime rate to provide a constant supply of easy targets for criminals.