The good news is that the Government is putting $15 million into an ad campaign to attract tourists, and that the Central Bank says the number of visitors is on the rise again.
The bad news is what greets those visitors when they set foot in The Bahamas: out-of-control violence, surly attitudes, high prices, and now a dog problem that officially, until Wednesday, was said not to be a dog problem.
How do you think those issues are going to play in Cleveland and Edmonton, even when the snow is knee-high and the temperature has not been above freezing for most of January?
Wait until they find out that The Bahamas, a country of 300,000 people, had only 10 fewer murders last year than Toronto, a city of three million plus.
Get ready for the reaction when they hear about the Canadian tourist mauled by stray dogs on Harbour Island.
Want to know how many tourists think of the attitudes of Bahamians in the service industry and Bahamian prices? Check out MSNBC’s internet site at http://www.msnbc.com/news/849177.asp?cp1=1; it’s not pretty.
An official solution isn’t going to solve much. The Government can throw all the money it wants at the industry and police and courts can crack down on the criminal element, but it is up to individual Bahamians to make things work.
This country’s lifeblood is tourism, and tourism depends on tourists. They have an increasingly competitive world to choose from and will spend their money where they are most welcome.
Time to act smart, Bahamas. Tourists are only as welcome as you make them.
Editorial, The Nassau Guardian
