Decades ago, the Bahamian tourism product was dynamic, innovative and a much looked to experience for our visitors. This, of course, was before the introduction of the Internet, cellular telephones and mega-cruise ships. Crime was also virtually non-existent as it related to our visitors.
There was a vibrant nightlife and there were scores of native owned and operated clubs and bars where locals and visitors alike were able to enjoy a safe and relaxing time. There were entertainers of all stripes.
Many of us are able to recall legendary entertainers and performers like Freddie Munnings Sr., Paul Meres, Berkley ‘Peanuts’ Taylor, Chickie Horne, Donald Butler, Ronnie Butler, Pricilla Rollins, The Mighty Makers and the list goes on. Nightclub venues like The Drumbeat, The Silver Slippers, The Cat & Fiddle, The Blue Lagoon, The Upper Room and, of course, The King & Knights.
All sorts of entertainment was available and enjoyed at affordable prices. One could experience limbo dancing, live dance music, comedy, cabaret-styled shows and fine dining. There was also an opportunity for our visitors to interact with well-behaved and mannerly locals.
With the advent of the large hotel resorts and cruise ships, we have witnessed a gradual steady reduction and elimination of the local nightclubs and nightlife opportunities for both locals and visitors. Up to the late 1980s it was still possible for locals and tourists to frequent entertainment venues within the hotels and in many parts of Over-the-Hill.
By the 1990s most hotels had closed down these cultural and entertainment venues and replaced them with ‘canned’ foreign music and imported entertainers with little, if any, input from indigenous Bahamians. I submit that there has been a tremendous erosion of the Bahamian tourism experience. There are no nightclubs, of note, in the Over-the-Hill areas of New Providence. Freeport, Grand Bahama used to be known locally and internationally as The Magic City.
Each week, especially on weekends, thousands of Bahamians and tourists would flock into Freeport for entertainment at numerous nightclubs and stayed at four-star-rated hotels. On off hours, they were able to enjoy the best beaches, play tennis or golf on world-class-rated tennis courts and golf courses. West End ranked in a class all to itself.
There was full employment and Bahamians from other islands migrated to Grand Bahama to seek work which was available in abundance. Not so today. Today, Freeport has lost its fabled vibrance and is on life support despite the half-hearted efforts of successive political administrations.
I am not into the blame game. What I am about is to stimulate sensible dialogue with all stakeholders as to how to arrest the further decline and decay in our once stellar Bahamian tourism experience.
The number one concern is the almost total lack of indigenous Bahamian input into the tourism product. All of our major hotels and resorts are owned by foreign interests. Back in the day, we had scores of Bahamian hotel managers and supervisors.
Today, you are able to count the ‘real’ Bahamian managers on one hand and still have several fingers accounted for. Where have they gone and when did they become irrelevant and marginalized? The foreign developers and investors in our major hotels, aided and abetted by assorted administrations and politicians, were able to bring in their own foreign managers and supervisors while the indigenous Bahamians were relegated to a supervisory role.
As a direct result of this the local Bahamian flavor has been long lost to our visitors and locals alike. When people travel and visit a destination they anticipate and look forward to local experiences and culture. A hotel room is and of itself a wonderful experience, but the average visitor could easily enjoy the same amenities while remaining in his own country.
The mega-cruise ships are being heavily subsidized by our government of the day but they are not encouraged to disgorge their passengers on to shore for any number of reasons – crime and the fear of crime being some of them. The dingy and repetitious T-shirt and trinket stores which line Bay Street and the constant pressure from unkept locals are also major turn offs for many potential tourist.
Our cab drivers are not courteous in many cases. Some at times go as far as offering to supply illegal drugs and prostitutes. We have, I submit, evolved as a nation of petty pimps and charlatans. There is no uniformed dress code and we have all manner of vehicles being used as taxi cabs.
It is one thing to brag about the annual number of tourist who may visit our shores, but what is the tourism package? The current minister of tourism is a good man but he and his top staffers are out of their depth and seem to be caught up in a time warp as it relates to the Bahamian tourism experience. It is time for the PM to reassign that ministry to someone who has bold, innovative and Bahamian-styled motivation.
Obie Wilchcombe (PLP-West Grand Bahama and Bimini) has served the nation as minister of tourism on two occasions. The first time was okay because we had few real challengers in the region. Now, with the gradual opening up of Cuba, the rebranding of the Jamaican and Dominican Republic experiences and inexpensive airlift to those and other destinations, we are in the fight of our lives to attract quality and high-end tourists.
What is or has been proposed by our minister of tourism in recent months since his reappointment to this vital post? Yes, there has been a lukewarm reshuffling of personnel within his ministry but many of the same out of touch individuals remain in high positions.
A tourism conclave must be convened and stakeholders need to put on their collective thinking caps to restructure and reenergize this vital pillar of the economy. Bahama Host needs to be revisited. Local entertainers need to throw out the current leadership of their musician union. The Bahamas Taxi Cab Union must seek to streamline all vehicles currently being used as taxi cabs (as in New York, Chicago, London and Montreal). Bahamian investors must step up to the plate and place funds into the local tourism plant.
Something drastic has to be done with central Bay Street. The downtown development board is not doing its job. By the way, who makes up that board and what are they, in fact, doing? Who appointed them and what are their terms of reference, if any?
The stretch of central Bay Street from Nassau Street straight up to the Paradise Island Bridge needs to be resurfaced and repaved urgently. It is a natural disgrace of national proportions for locals and visitors to drive or be transported along that corridor.
And so, my beloved fellow Bahamians, let us stop moaning and groaning about what is wrong with the Bahamian tourism experience. We all know what is wrong. Let us now devise the ways and means to fix it.
To God then, in all things, inclusive of tourism, be the glory.
By: Ortland Bodie
