NASSAU, Bahamas — A Cabinet minister yesterday warned new US quarantine requirements are “simply devastating” for the Bahamian tourism industry’s rebound, adding: “This keeps us on the edge that much longer,” The Tribune reported on Friday, January 22, in an article written by Business Editor Neil Hartnell.
Dionisio D’Aguilar, minister of tourism and aviation, told Tribune Business that Joe Biden’s executive order on COVID-19 restrictions relating to international travel are yet another “significant deterrent” that will hit every aspect of this nation’s tourism sector.
The newly-elected president, in a bid to contain skyrocketing US infection rates that have resulted in 24.5m COVID-19 cases and 406,000 deaths, yesterday implemented a policy that requires all returning American citizens and foreign travellers to “comply” with Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines that include “recommended periods of self-quarantine or self-isolation”.
These guidelines, according to the CDC’s website, include getting tested for COVID-19 within three to five days after arriving back in the US from “higher risk activities” during international travel.
They advise persons to “stay home” for seven days after travel, even if they test negative for the virus, while those who elected not to have the test are told to stay home for ten days after returning.
Mr D’Aguilar said “higher risk” international travel was defined as coming from countries that presently have a ‘Level 2’, ‘Level 3’ or ‘Level 4’ Health Travel Notice from the CDC. The Bahamas is presently in ‘Level 4’ and, while the minister argued that this risk rating should be much lower due to the decline in COVID-19 cases here, the country falls squarely within the new quarantine measures.
“It’s devastating. It’s simply devastating,” he told this newspaper of the new US president’s action, which came barely two days into his administration. “This is a significant deterrent to travel.
“The fact you have to get a COVID test to return to the US is an impediment we could potentially overcome, but this one – having to comply with the CDC guidelines on quarantine, which I think is for between five, seven, ten or 14 days….. I don’t know if we can get down to ‘Level 2’, but that’s what we have to push for.
“This is potentially economically devastating. COVID-19 took us to the edge, and this will keep us on the edge that much longer,” Mr D’Aguilar added. “It’s quite depressing really. It’s a major setback; a significant setback. I presume it’s going to be impactful on our hotel partners, our airline partners and certainly our cruise line partners, and all the spin-offs that feed those things. See complete Tribune article at http://www.tribune242.com/news/2021/jan/22/bidens-action-simply-devastating-tourism/
