i live in Toronto, and yes Bahamas is very high in the list per capita

He says while no new advisories by the cruise lines ... LOL

Well what stronger language could the cruise line say when they already suggestion not to get off the boat and if you do stay in this very small zone.

Listen, this guy just wrote an article that is too big, when people send you 1000 pages to read its so you cant digest and understand it easily.

Here is another approach.

Is total tourism visitor up?
Is total spending per tourist up?

If the net dollars left in the country is not going up, then its not getting better.

So ask the author to just publish one number over the last 5 years, the total dollars generated from tourism per year .... a simple graph, no talk needed ... if going up then keep doing what you doing, if down then any idiot can make up his own mind that its not getting better.

i think their time would be better spent addressing young men growing up without fathers.

Is gaming really the top priority they see themselves needing to dedicate their time and money to addressing? If so then maybe the Christian Council should seek some Council themselves to get their priorities straight ...

Or maybe they just like to take on the easy problems.

People all over the world read these headlines. Im in Canada. Every day it seems a new story that would serve to convince potiential visitors to pick a new destination

im not sure what countries are included in the grouping so its hard to agree or disagree with the statement. That said, as a tourist I would avoid the grouping altogether. There are safer places to visit.

when carnival is telling people its not save, its not a good thing. Im sure they do not do this lightly either.

Actually, you had more than 2 options. Bahamians only believe in one of the two options. Others never given a chance. Bahamians seem to like to just keep putting in the same ingredients and expecting something different to come out of the oven. Oh and they like to talk too.

Thanks for your comment. I do not often come back to check what I write about or the responses.

I no longer live in Bahamas but born there.

There are several issues. Here are a few comments I have to make in no particular order.

1. Children born with no daddy, and its perfectly fine and acceptable. Guess what, for the first couple generations it might work out, but eventually you end up with young males that now see this as a way of life. In the end, no one is there to teach the young makes any standards, or provide stability. Long run this is not good, and this is where you are now.

2. Jobs. Without jobs there will never be any hope. Stop relying on government to create jobs. They do not. Governments spend your money or money they borrow to pay their workers. It does not contribute to the overall prosperity of the country. Yes you need roads, infrastructure, hospitals and the government should (if can afford) provide some basics to the people and security and a framework for business ... they however are not business just business enablers.

3. Education of the country. I checked the papers and see where people celebrating 'D"'s in school now. Terrible. I do talk to several business owners in Bahamas, and guess what. You can't even find reliable people to show up each day and answer a telephone properly. No skills. Not academically, not socially and no sense of desire to work. Many are going to disagree with me, but .. look around -- what you see reflects what Im saying.

4. Tourism. Until Bahamas can educate itself, and retain the people like me that left then you are stuck with just a few basic industries that actually bring money into the country. No money coming into the country and no money for people or governments ... so real prosperity will be based on new money into the country. I see some saying that they feel like salves working in the hotels and the tourism industry ... well you can feel however you wish ... I don't like working either, but it beats the alternatives. So in the end when the attitude filters through to the vacationers ... then they stop coming. Bahamas is not a cheap destination, and there are many alternatives for far less.

5. Crime. Its having a huge impact on your tourism, the one thing thats still keeping Bahamas afloat. Crime is just the symptom because people have no jobs. Some want them but not educated enough, some just don't have the ethics, some just do not want them. Yes thee are the exceptions ... but a country can not be prosperous on the few good. I have been watching the crime rates and they not improving.

Anyway, the truth is until the greater proportion of Bahamians decide that family stability, values, education, work ethic are important (will take generations to undo whats already done) then nothing will really change. Change will have to come from within, and I don't really think the people are ready yet as they still blaming everybody but themselves.

Nassauboy.