Immediately after the sweeping winds of Hurricane Frances left the northern shores of The Bahamas on Sunday, the Ministry of Tourism wasted no time in announcing to the world that all was well and the islands were once again back in business.
In a release sent out on the PR Newswire and posted on the official website of the country Bahamas.com, The ministry announced that The Bahamas had fared much better than the predictions.
The release also outlined that minimal damages were sustained to the major hotels on Nassau/Paradise Islands. Islands like Harbour Island, North Eleuthera and Exuma, which would have experienced the full force of Frances, were also described as having little property damage.
Most of the tourism facilities in these locations were said to have already returned to normal. Assessments were however still pending for Grand Bahama and Abaco.
In an interview with The Guardian on Saturday, Director General of Tourism, Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace said that the new website, launched during the latest advertising campaign by tourism in late 2003, would be the chief information dissemination mechanism for relaying information to the world in the aftermath of Frances.
The information posted on the site is collected through the Tourism Command Centre established last week, immediately after the threat of Hurricane Frances to The Bahamas became apparent. The command centre is the only source for the collection and filtering of reports on damages and other pertinent information related to the industry as a result of the hurricane.
The director general explained in the interview that the decision to have a central reporting centre during natural disasters such as Frances was to prevent the potential harm that rumours and misinformation could cause to the country’s pillar industry. Before posting the information on the website, multiple checks are performed to ensure accuracy, Mr. Wanderpool-Wallace said.
Martella Matthews, The Nassau Guardian
