On Thursday, tourism stakeholders staged a one-day workshop at the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island to decide how to create a more secure environment for the millions of tourists who visit the country annually.
Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe said he wants to see a country where the need for more prison cells is reduced.
“If I am dreaming, I love to dream because I believe there is power in dreams and then if you dream, you work hard enough and if you have everyone working for the same resolution you can achieve it,” Minister Wilchcombe said.
He said the focus needs to be on reducing crime generally and not just against tourists. Minister Wilchcombe believes that this would aid in continued national progress.
“We have been able to do tremendously well,” he said. “We have been able to depend on tourism and build a strong economy, educate our people, put some of our athletes on the world stage and cause many to wonder how, but let’s keep the world asking. Let us continue to push forward.”
Through the workshop, officials hoped to devise strategies to improve visitor safety and security, coordinate prevention and response efforts and expeditiously prosecute offenders involved in tourist-related crimes.
Director General of Tourism Vernice Walkine said achieving these goals is not a matter for the police or the Ministry of Tourism alone.
“Today more than ever people expect to feel safe and secure in a destination where they are being invited to visit. It’s one of those unspoken things,” she said.
“We cannot publicly advertise that we’re safe because by doing that we are suggesting that others are not and you don’t want to do that, but we believe that in this current environment where everyone’s attention is focused on safety and security that it’s time for us to form ourselves into a body responsible for this.”
Ms. Walkine said authorities leading the effort have proposed that the police establish a tourism safety and security section with two primary teams – one a visibility team, the other an inquiry team – that would be able to control the entire process from the time a crime is perpetrated to the time the matter is satisfactorily concluded.
According to Ms. Walkine, it would also put The Bahamas in a position to prevent crimes.
Stakeholders in the initiative are hoping to establish a Visitors Safety and Security Board to promote education and training, public awareness, advocacy, environment design measures, communication and coordination.
U.S. Ambassador to The Bahamas John Rood said the workshop is only one of many ways The Bahamas has proven its commitment to tourist security.
He said the embassy is ready to do its part.
“I’ve not heard of a workshop like this being done anywhere else in the world, Ambassdor Rood said.
“By working together, we can make this programme an example for the region and the world. By building on the results of this workshop, we can ensure that The Bahamas continues to be known as a safe and friendly destination for all travelers.”
By: Macushla N. Pinder, The Bahama Journal
Editor’s Note: The two men who attacked the BahamasB2B founder with a cutlass are still walking the streets of Nassau. When they are arrested and put in jail, then we will believe that tourism stakeholders are serious about crimes against visitors. Until then, we dismiss their rhetoric as a press release and photo op.
It should also be noted that the very last high-profile crime against tourists; when a Bahamian man slaughtered two Austrian tourists in their hotel room, has not been “expeditiously” prosecuted. We do not understand how the tourism minister could fix his mouth to say they will devise plans to expeditiously prosecute crimes against tourists, when they are not expeditiously prosecuting the very last crime.
