D’Aguilar: Atlantis approached govt about vacation in place model

Atlantis resort hopes to have its guests vacation in place when it reopens, according to Minister of Tourism and Aviation Dionisio D’Aguilar, adding that its executives insist their facilities are large enough to keep their guests occupied in a bubble.

D’Aguilar, speaking to reporters outside Cabinet yesterday, said Atlantis approached him about the idea several weeks ago, but has yet to finalize that arrangement with the government.

“Atlantis came to me a number of weeks ago to say doing a test before arrival, on arrival and after arrival is too ‘much for our guests and we rather like the vacation in place model, because we’re a large facility with lots of amenities, so our guests can quite easily stay on property’,” D’Aguilar said.

“If you look throughout the Caribbean… the islands that have been the most successful are those islands with hotels where guests can go and vacation in place. I can understand why Atlantis would say ‘we’re a huge facility, we just want our guests to remain on property’. That’s something we could agree with.”

D’Aguilar said the government is eager to get both Atlantis and Baha Mar to reopen, given the number of Bahamians they employ.

Guardian Business revealed on Monday that Atlantis is hoping to reopen on December 1.

While Baha Mar has not made any announcements on reopening, Director General in the Ministry of Tourism and Aviation Joy Jibrilu told this paper yesterday that the resort has been in unilateral talks with airlines.  

Jibrilu said now that The Bahamas has fully reopened with new protocols, airlines have been restarting flights to the country. She said Delta Air Lines is expected to come back soon, while American Airlines plans to add more flights. 

“Certainly we will now start to see an uptick. They’re all very excited about the reopening. The Bahamas is a promising destination for them, it is well liked and they want to work with us and start bringing airlift back,” said Jibrilu.

Though tourists have begun to come into the country since it reopened on November 1, Jibrilu said it is too soon to know the extent of future bookings. 

The post D’Aguilar: Atlantis approached govt about vacation in place model appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.

source https://thenassauguardian.com/daguilar-atlantis-approached-govt-about-vacation-in-place-model/