D’Aguilar: Travelers using fake vaccination cards are a concern
NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Tourism Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar said yesterday that while tourism arrival numbers are trending in a positive direction, they are still 30 to 40 percent below pre-pandemic levels.
D’Aguilar, who was addressing reporters ahead of a Cabinet meeting yesterday, noted: “The good news is that the number of foreign arrivals is increasing every month, so it’s headed in the right direction.
“The bad news is that it is still 20, 30, 40 percent of what it used to be. We are nowhere near our 2019 numbers and that’s understandable. We are still in the throes of the pandemic. It’s going to take time for people to get vaccinated and feel safe enough to travel to think about a holiday.
“I can tell you that the numbers are ever-increasing and persons are obviously interested in a warm-weather destination and they are choosing The Bahamas in ever-increasing numbers.
“It’s going to take some time for us to get back to where we used to be but we’re headed in the right direction.”
The Central Bank’s recently released Monthly Economic and Financial Developments report for March revealed that total foreign arrivals fell by nearly 80 percent in March, extending the nearly 60 percent decline in the same period last year, when the virus’ effect was only felt partially during the month.
As the tourism industry attempts to restart even while several countries contend with third waves of the virus, the tourism minister yesterday noted that fake vaccination cards among travelers are a concern.
He said tourism officials will have to determine what sort of mechanism will be needed to ensure visitors are not using false vaccination cards when applying for travel health visas.
“This is an ongoing and very fluid situation. The difficulty is certainly in the US where over 90 percent [of] our visitors originate,” said D’Aguilar.
“Persons are getting vaccines in many areas, many different municipalities, many different states and all of them have a mechanism by which to report whether a person has been vaccinated. We are trying to work through that.
“The world is looking at this and there has been talk of a COVID passport. We are obviously grappling with this issue but for the time being, we think that the records that people are presenting are genuine and we are just getting a mechanism to validate that.”
Government officials recently announced that citizens and residents who are fully vaccinated, having received all required doses, are exempted from testing requirements when traveling to and within The Bahamas.
