Changing emergency orders impacting excursion operators, notes BEOA

Some excursion operators are waiting to see if the country’s emergency orders will remain in place or be adjusted in order for them to make serious plans to reopen their businesses, president of the Bahamas Excursion Operators Association Andoni Lisgaris told Guardian Business yesterday.

Lisgaris said planning for business resumption has been difficult given that the government’s emergency orders put in place to curb the rise in COVID-19 cases can change on a whim.

“It’s hard to make plans when you think it’s going to be reversed as soon as you make the plan, so I think that’s what people are most concerned about,” said Lisgaris.

Director General of the Ministry of Tourism and Aviation (MOTA) Joy Jibrilu told this paper recently that the latest emergency orders allow tour operators who have gone through the MOTA’s training and have all their health and safety protocols in place to operate.

“That is just great news,” said Jibrilu. “So many of them have gone through a difficult time.”

Lisgaris said he and his association members have had their protocols in place since June and are prepared to take weekly rapid antigen tests.

But although the country has already begun to see tourists return under the new entry protocols, Lisgaris said there is hardly a blip of business on the screen.

“There is nothing going on, we have gotten an email or two,” he said.

Lisgaris runs a boat charter business and said since March he has only had a few local customers, but not enough for the company to “even break even”. 

“The only customers we have had since March are a small percentage of Bahamians, but the ones who could basically afford to go fishing or do an excursion are still working full-time, which means they’re only available on the weekends, but then with the weekend lockdowns and beach closures, there’s been nothing,” he said.

He added that it might be too early to gauge how business will look, especially with Baha Mar and Atlantis eyeing December for their reopening. 

“Let’s see how it goes and if The Bahamas stays open, then we’re gonna go,” Lisgaris said. “But I still think it’s too early to really say.”

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