DIONISIO D’AGUILAR MINISTER OF TOURISM & AVIATION

 ADDRESS TO THE NATION 7 SEPTEMBER 2020

In this nation’s short but determined history, moments of triumph, and moments of tragedy, tell the story of who we are as Bahamians. We are a proud people, a strong people, a united people.  

Nonetheless, this year has undoubtedly been marred by moments of tragedy—the wounds of Hurricane Dorian have yet to heal, COVID-19 has brought tourism to a standstill, and tens of thousands of Bahamians have been tragically left without jobs.

But still, we march.  

For Bahamians are no strangers to making history under challenging, seemingly impossible circumstances. 

After Hurricane Dorian, when the world showed The Bahamas as a nation ripped to pieces, blown away by an unthinkable force, The Bahamas showed the world a people united in a shared spirit of struggle, stewardship, and service.

My Ministry went to great lengths to share with media, travel sites, and consumers the world over that we are indeed a “family of islands,” urging travelers to visit our shores as the most valuable form of help in rebuilding our nation.

The strategy worked…..and so they came! In 2019, under challenging, seemingly impossible circumstances, The Bahamas recorded our strongest tourism numbers ever…..with 7.2 million visitor arrivals!  

 Today, we face a storm of a much different kind. This one we cannot predict, but this time, we can do our very best to take care of Bahamians. I have every confidence that this Bahamas will once again persevere and emerge prouder, stronger, and more united than before.

   I am indeed grateful for the opportunity this afternoon to speak, along with the Director General of Tourism, about the plans for the reopening our tourism sector. 

Few can argue with the fact that, since the 1950s, tourism has accelerated the growth of the Bahamian economy to a scale unrivaled across the Caribbean – facilitating the expansion of our middle class, the education of our children, and the socioeconomic means to earn an honest living.

 As we all know, Tourism has been the #1 provider of employment for the Bahamas, the #1 provider of foreign exchange for the Bahamas, and the #1 source of revenue for the Treasury of the Bahamas. Any other economic sector was a distant second.

I suspect also that, in the short term, there is no other economic sector, existing or currently contemplated, that can deliver, with immediacy and magnitude, foreign exchange, employment levels and tax revenues, like Tourism. 

Time and time again, this industry has demonstrated its resilience – recovering and rebounding after hurricanes, previous pandemics, and global economic downturns. 

Over the last three years, no one can question that tourism has generated record visitor arrivals and ever-increasing tax receipts and ever-increasing employment.

The peculiarity of tourism is the need for social gathering between travelers…..and between travelers and service providers. That is why this pandemic has affected tourism globally so substantially. 

It is impossible to overstate the destabilizing impact of COVID-19 on not only the global industry, but our local tourism product.

Moreover, this downturn has emboldened cynics on Bahamian social media, whose false narratives have clouded our collective understanding of tourism. 

It is critical in these uncertain times that we separate fact from fiction, and remind Bahamians why the tourism industry has and will always remain an integral component of our economy.  

There are three local and universal truths which bear greater emphasis, ones which should silence this disinformation campaign the vocal minority are working hard to spread.   

1. Tourism’s economic potential is unparalleled – travel and tourism remains the world’s second-fastest growing sector, an increasingly resilient industry, and the world’s largest employer of both skilled and unskilled workers. Every economy in the world is involved in the tourism trade.  

2. Tourism’s impact on trade and investment is HUGE – few industries bring in more foreign currency and boost foreign reserves. Many developing countries, including The Bahamas, rely on tax receipts from their tourism industries to facilitate food and construction imports. 

3. Tourism has done more to facilitate human and capital development throughout The Bahamas than any other industry. Tax receipts have for years funded essential investments in housing, education, health, government services, and infrastructural development. More than 50 percent of the government’s direct and indirect tax revenue comes from the over seven (7) million visitors who flock to our shores each year.

Quite simply, no industry takes better care of Bahamians than TOURISM ...to continue see attached