NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Bahamas Taxicab Union (BTU) president Wesley Ferguson said that while business levels are currently “nothing to get excited about”, taxi drivers are optimistic that business will pick up around Thanksgiving and carry over into the new year.
Nassau Airport Development Company (NAD) vice-president of marketing and communications Jan Knowles told Eyewitness News the facility did not expect a major uptick in arrivals this week due to last night’s US presidential elections.
“With the US elections this week we do not anticipate any major uptick in what we have been seeing arrivals wise,” she said.
“As you are aware the airport has been open and welcoming passengers for some time. I am told that Ministry of Tourism has wisely not commenced any advertising campaigns to stimulate demand given all of the election advertising and noise so I do not see any immediate change to what we are currently seeing.”
For his part, Ferguson said operations are “still at a trickle”.
“But that was expected,” he said.
“Under normal circumstances, September and October and some of the slowest months of the year in terms of tourism. Compounding that is the fact is the US elections.
“Many people have opted not to travel at this time because if they leave the US they would not be able to vote. With the temperature of the election what it is, a lot of people wanted to vote. This is a very rough time in the US and around the world.”
Ferguson continued: “We expect that right after this, leading into Thanksgiving things will begin to pick up speed a bit. Of course, it’s not going to be the way it was in previous years but once the momentum picks up we expect it to carry through to previous years. It’s a trickle right now, nothing to get excited about but it’s a start. It’s better than doing nothing. We have to figure out ways to coexist with the virus. We can’t just sit down and do nothing.”
