NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) president Robert Sands said yesterday that industry stakeholders are closely monitoring the fall-out from the US State Department’s “regrettable” Level 4 travel advisory.
Sands remarked on the impact of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the United States to add The Bahamas to its “Do Not Travel” list, citing the “very high level of COVID-19 in the country”.
“It is regrettable that we have been downgraded to a Level Four,” Sands said.
“I am hopeful that with the level of vaccinations taking place on a daily and weekly basis that will help to mitigate against the rise in numbers which over the past few days appear to be contained at a particular level and also reducing. I am hopeful that within the next few weeks the position would be reversed because they would have seen the trends with COVID cases and level of vaccinations.
He said: “It is important that we get back to a Level 3 or Level two so we can continue the booking pace for individual and group business going forward.”
Sands said it was still too early to assess the downgrade’s impact on the country’s tourism sector.
“It is still very early to determine the real impact of the advisory but such an advisory is never a positive thing and will have some impact on a person’s decision to travel,” he added.
“We will just have to wait and see to be able to quantify that. It comes at a time when The Bahamas is going into perhaps the softest quarter of the year. We will have to see how it impacts the quarter but more importantly forward bookings going into next year. We are keeping a very close eye on the situation.”
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