Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe and his team at the Ministry of Tourism, that is responsible for ensuring that the lifeblood of the country’s economy continues to flourish, most certainly must have some concern about the recent announcement by the United States that Americans travelling to the Caribbean, Mexico and Canada will be required to have a passport when re-entering the United States.
The new policy is part of the Department of Homeland Security’s ongoing efforts to prevent terrorists and other undesirables who could pose a possible threat to the internal security of that country, from entering the United States.
In the aftermath of the ghastly terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City on September 11, 2001, the United States quite rightly is leaving no stone unturned to prevent such a terrible act from occurring again.
Protecting all of its borders, of course, is virtually impossible, especially with regard to countries such as Canada and Mexico with which it shares the North American continent; but fanatics who may want to cowardly commit terrorist acts within the United States must know upfront that doing so will not be made easy by a lack of proper security at all entry points into that country.
Because the vast majority of the tourists who come to The Bahamas are from the United States, this new policy could have a huge adverse effect on The Bahamas’ number one industry, given the fact that visitors from the United States currently do not need a passport, but rather can enter the country with any form of identification proving that they are Americans.
This visitor-friendly policy was the brainchild of the late Sir Stafford Sands, who as head of the Bahamas Development Board prior to the implementation of ministerial government was the architect of mass tourism to The Bahamas starting in the 1950s.
More than likely, because the majority of the visitors who come to The Bahamas do not possess a passport, it stands to reason that a good number of them may decide that once the new policy comes into effect, rather than go through the hassle of obtaining a passport, they would vacation at home.
To be sure, there is no shortage of excellent vacation destinations within the continental United States, and for those who may still want to enjoy the flavour of the islands, there is always Hawaii, an American state for which they do not require a passport.
Fortunately, because of The Bahamas’ geographic proximity to The United States, this country should still be the destination of choice for those visitors who want to vacation in a foreign country; therefore, this may be incentive enough for some of those who had gotten into the habit of coming here with their driver’s licence or birth certificate to get a passport.
Nonetheless, there is no question that those who are responsible for promoting tourism to The Bahamas have their work cut out for them if they hope to avoid a precipitous decline in our tourism numbers after the new policy comes into effect in January 2008.
Editorial from The Nassau Guardian
