First published in The Tribune on Monday, December 17, 2007 under the byline, Young Man's View.
THE declining tourist numbers indicate that the Bahamas' tourism product is mediocre and significantly falling behind.
Gone are the days when promotional packages featuring the sun, sand and the sea would attract visitors in droves and sustain the high standard of living that Bahamians have become accustomed to.
With the implementation of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, in January, which requires all Americans returning to the US to present a passport, the Bahamas no longer has an advantage over other countries where Americans have long had to travel with passports.
These days, every rock—from Mexico to Tahiti—can boast of sun, sand and sea, but they also recognise that the sustainability and profitability of their tourism industry can only continue if they provide quality service, reasonable prices and a wide variety of tourist-related activities.
Of late, local tour operators and visitors have complained about the lack of meaningful activities, other than the beach or the casinos, that’s available to tourists.
The government, and Bahamians at large, must recognise that tourism is a multi-dimensional phenomenon that calls for much more than a handful of sand, a tan and a dip in the sea.
Why hasn’t more attention been given to developing the heritage tourism sector, highlighting the country's historic and cultural attractions? Why hasn’t greater appreciation been given to Bahamian music, dance, art and craft?
Although 80 per cent of all visitors to the Bahamas come from the US, a Ministry of Tourism official claimed that of all the countries that a major UK tour operator (First Choice) sends visitors, the Bahamas consistently ranks near the bottom for (European) visitor satisfaction. This is cause for concern as it shows that guests aren’t satisfied with their experiences after having paid steep vacation prices.
In recent months, Caribbean Travel and Life magazine polled its readers to select their favourite Caribbean cruise ports and discovered that only eight per cent named the Bahamas as their favourite port of call.
In recent times, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines decided to redeploy three of its vessels to other destinations because the newer ships (which replaced the previous vessels) were unable to navigate into Nassau's harbour or any other Bahamian harbour.
Royal Caribbean's decision will lead to a loss of some 166,765 cruise visitors per annum and about $9.338 million in visitor spending.
Total tourists arrivals to the Bahamas slumped by alarming double-digit numbers this year, statistically revealing that this nation's competitive advantage in its key industry was being rapidly eroded. The Bahamas suffered one of the Caribbean's highest percentage declines in stopover tourist arrivals during the first quarter of this year!
Adding to the gloomy outlook currently facing the country's leading industry are reports that the Bahamas has even dropped off the list of this year's list of the top 15 countries where Americans would choose to vacation "if money were no object."
Although tourism is the backbone of our economy and accounts for 90 per cent of our nation's revenue, downtown Nassau and the Prince George Wharf are squalid sites, in need of urgent transformation. The amount of garbage strewn about and the unkempt, grubby sidewalks and storefronts make downtown Bay Street a loathsome monstrosity that can hardly qualify as a tourist attraction.
The internationally promoted straw market/flea market is also weakening our tourism product, as it has become nothing more than a filthy, condemned structure where illegal aliens profit and counterfeit merchandise is sold unabatedly.
Even more, our declining tourist product is further compounded by the deteriorating pigsty that currently serves as our country's primary entrance point and which must be the worst international airport in this hemisphere—the Lynden Pindling International Airport! Not only should this shabby, third-rate facility be torn down, but staff should also be efficiently trained or promptly dismissed.
To improve the tourist product, services must be improved at restaurants, the mandatory 15 per cent gratuity must be dropped (so that workers can earn it), sales persons in tourist areas must be trained to give quality service and public restrooms must be consistently cleaned. While in Europe this summer, the restrooms were not only cleaned and properly serviced, but I was also required to pay 50 euro cents—as a maintenance fee—for usage. Maybe we should adopt similar policies!
High prices, poor attitudes and dreadful service, a lack of attractions, an ineffective judicial system, the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) and the upsurge in violent crime, among other factors, have all put a damper on the Bahamas' number one industry.
The Ministry of Tourism should also commit more funds to its marketing campaign, particularly since the Bahamas is now competing with destinations such as Cancun, which is benefiting from a $30 million marketing blitz.
Without Atlantis, what would our economy really look like?
Visitors want more value for their dollars, so we must immediately upgrade our tourism product or face a further decline in tourist arrivals and a possible economic recession. The present government should also seek to diversify the economy, encouraging agricultural production, manufacturing and services, research and development projects and so on.
THE NATIONAL ADVISORY COUNCIL ON CRIME IS A WASTE OF TIME!
The newly-formed National Advisory Council On Crime is a stalling tactic for a lack of answers and a colossal waste of time and resources. As violent crime continues to spiral out of control, yet another committee is formed to produce another elaborate report of our country's woes, repeating what the average Bahamians already know.
This year, a United Nations report revealed that the rate of murders, rapes and violent assaults in the Bahamas ranged from twice to 160 times the world average. Isn't that enough for National Security minister Tommy Turnquest to realize that our nation is facing a crime crisis? With the murder count about to eclipse 80, how much more does this seemingly hapless minister need to see before realizing that the nation is "sailing up dire straits"?
