According to the May to October 2005 Cruise Visitor Satisfaction Report that was compiled by the Research Department of The Ministry of Tourism, they were not happy campers.
First off, it is a shame that the most recent figures available to the public are from almost a year ago. Aside from the bungling and inefficiency that delays accurate record-keeping at the Ministry, it appears that more recent statistics are so bad that they are afraid to release them.
Far too many tourists made unfavourable remarks on a questionnaire that addressed the visitors' shopping, security, straw market, bus, taxi and restaurant experiences, among other tourism encounters. While there were a few visitors who actually enjoyed the experience, most visitors weren't too much impressed with what The Bahamas had to offer.
According to such report, 83 per cent of the cruise passengers indicated that they had done some form of shopping, but only 26 per cent of them thought that the shopping experience was "excellent,". Many others felt the shopping experience was "not so good," claiming that the prices were too high, the shopping experience was too negative and "too many people bothered you."
One cruise ship tourist was so dissatisfied she went online to share her horrible experience with others… many others. Her online review highlighted her "bad" experience while in The Bahamas, claiming that while some parts of her trip was "picturesque," there was a lot she was not prepared to handle.
She complained about how "impoverished and disgusting" Nassau was, the locals who roamed the streets and tired to sell drugs to tourists and the way she was "immediately attacked by vendors with knock-off designer bags and cheap T-shirts."
And that was, apparently, not an isolated case, because according to the Cruise Visitor Satisfaction Report, only 34 per cent of the visitors surveyed thought the Bahamians they met were helpful people.
An astonishing 88 per cent felt unsafe here in The Bahamas, while numbers continued to increase for other unfavourable comments on the country's stray dog problem, littered beaches, unfriendly people, high prices and poor service.
The tourists even joined in the thrashing of the already highly criticized public transportation system, with 77 per cent of the cruise passengers who travelled in a bus/jitney expressing that their experience was anything but "excellent."
Forty-two per cent of tourists said their bus/jitney experience was "good" and 15 per cent said their bus ride was "ok." Four per cent of the visitors were completely unsatisfied.
The report broke down the tourists' comments in 15 tourism driven sectors, from which highly disappointing results for the tourism industry was gathered. The tourists' dissatisfacton with taxis, security, beaches, restaurants, casinos and even their hair braiding experiences, are cause for alarm for the entire Bahamas tourism industry. Itr also might explain why Bahamas tourism continues to drop.
