NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The Bahamas must do what it can to ensure that it stays at a U.S. Centre for Disease Control (CDC) Level 1 Travel Risk Advisory rating, accourding to a tourism executive yesterday.
Last Thursday, the CDC further de-escalated the COVID-19 Travel Risk Advisory Rating for The Bahamas to a Level 1 (low). The rating advises international travelers to be up to date with their COVID-19 vaccines before traveling.
Bahamas Out Island Promotion Board (BOIPB) president Kerry Fountain told Eyewitness News yesterday, “let’s control what we can”.
Fountain said: “It’s always welcomed news and it certainly will have an impact on the meetings and groups business. This gives meeting planners some confidence and assurance that they can go ahead and book for the future.”
“This COVID thing is not going away and we have to ensure that we stay at a level one because any fluctuations could have a negative impact on tourism. Let’s control what we can control by making sure our people are vaccinated, the staff in the hotels are vaccinated and vendors are vaccinated. Our hotels also have to offer some type of flexible cancellation policy. Let’s control what we can and be flexible with our cancellation policy,” said Fountain.
Fountain also noted that a federal judge in Florida on Monday struck down the mask requirement on airplanes, trains, buses and other public transportation. The ruling left it up to individual airlines and local transit agencies to decide what to do.
“A lot of our competitors in the region are relaxing COVID-19 protocols and testing requirements and obviously that is something we have to be mindful of in terms of staying competitive. I’m not saying we should do things just for the sake of doing them but we should follow the science on these issues,” said Fountain.
Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) president Robert Sands noted that the Ministry of Health several weeks ago announced that persons are “not required to wear a face mask while in a lobby, corridor, or casino of a hotel or while in an outdoor setting where there is at least three feet of space between persons who are not of the same household”.
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