Laurencia I.A. Smith, Journal Staff Writer

The Bahamas tourism workforce has been brought to its knees due the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Minister of Tourism Dionisio D’Aguilar.

“So tourism is 48 percent of our direct employment, 40 percent of our GDP. It’s huge. Tourism has come to a screeching halt across the planet,” he said, ahead of the weekly Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

Recently, Atlantis, Sandals, Baha Mar and Melia resorts all announced plans to temporarily suspend operations, leaving many Bahamians from the hotel industry unemployed.

The harsh reality is that The Bahamas’ tourism product has taken a hit despite having record breaking numbers in visitor arrivals last year. 

 “Being one of the, if not, the most tourism dependent economy in the Caribbean, we are feeling it significantly and it’s devastating,” the minister of tourism said.

D’Aguilar expressed that the COVID-19 crisis is having an impact on every aspect of the world, as he noted that worldwide persons are losing not billions, but trillions in resources due to the pandemic.

“So the impact of the whole entire planet has come to a screeching halt is significant and it’s not missing out The Bahamas.  We will incur the impact of this,” he said.