Cuba is opening for business. If there was ever a time in a post independence Bahamas that the entertainment and arts sector needed to be prominent and prepared for competition, it is now. Our tourism and travel markets are set to take on competition from a formidable opponent. Cuba has been off limits for 5 decades and there are many persons in the USA that have been seeking new experiences and better experiences for that matter. They have come to our country, partly because there was no major tourism market as close but off shore and sovereign.

I urge the government, private enterprise and entertainment bodies nationwide, to prepare for the coming new more competitive market place.Lets get our collective acts together. Provide a better and more complete product. We, the industry partners and primaries, must work more closely together and as a team to boost the quality, viability and positive visibility of our tourism and cultural product.

This can be a defining moment in Bahamian history and life. We can buckle under the pressures of this and more pressures to come from competing markets or we can correct, collect and redirect. I look forward to the new challenges and opportunities created by a more free and open Cuban society and hope that we can all benefit both financially and culturally from the necessity to work and come together created by this and coming Cuban liberation exercises. 

Regards,

Nat Cambridge
GBEMAA President