The Ministry of Tourism approved 35,000 travel visas for foreign visitors traveling to the country during the month of December, Minister of Tourism and Aviation Dionisio D’Aguilar confirmed yesterday.
He said in total there were approximately 50,000 people who crossed the border last month.
“Early indicators are that about 35,000 foreign visitors came to The Bahamas in the month of December, which as you can imagine is significantly less than what came to the country in December 2019,” D’Aguilar told Guardian Business.
“Of the persons that crossed the border, another 15,000 were returning residents and citizens. So there were about 50,000 people that crossed the border during the month of December.”
The Nassau Airport Development Company Limited (NAD) revealed that for the month of November, total international departures decreased to 9,777 passengers compared to the 110,848 international departures recorded in November 2019.
“It was very encouraging to hear from foreign visitors – who I happened to bump into and chat to informally – and some of the hotel owners and operators how well they thought our system was working. Our ability to turn those visa applications around in under 24 hours in most instances and the fact that we had a rapid antigen test applied on day five, made our foreign visitors feel safe. They felt this was a safe place to come to, a safe place to visit and they respected our protocols,” D’Aguilar said.
“It might have been a little bit difficult navigating them initially, but when they got here by and large they had an excellent experience and reiterated to me over and over again that they really felt safe coming here on holiday. So I was extremely happy that our protocols were working and people had a pleasant experience even on December 26 and 27 when there was a large number of people applying for visas to come to the country.”
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source https://thenassauguardian.com/ministry-of-tourism-data-reveals-35000-tourists-visited-in-dec/
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