Speeches & Op-Eds
The Bahamas Hotel Association Meeting
October 6, 2005
Introduction
Thank you for your kind invitation today. I am pleased to join you this morning to address a range of issues that affect tourism in the Bahamas and American citizens, who make up the majority of visitors to The Bahamas. I hope that my remarks will be part of a continuing conversation on these subjects. Please know also, that Ambassador Rood and I are always interested in hearing your thoughts and concerns on these matters.
As I prepared to come here today and began considering the impact of tourism in the Bahamas and the United States, I was struck above all by the common bond tourism creates between the United States and The Bahamas. Over four million Americans visited The Bahamas last year. Americans love The Bahamas! And, we think that this is not unrequited love! In the other direction, I have yet to meet a Bahamian who has not visited or lived in the United States.
This extensive two-way interchange does much more than generate economic benefits for our nations. More significantly, personal interaction between Americans and Bahamians builds mutual understanding and recognition. While I will talk today about passport initiatives, visitor safety, airport security, the environment, and free trade, I wanted to highlight at the outset this broader context to underscore the important role tourism plays in creating mutual understanding between our countries.
Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative
First off, let me touch on a subject that has been much in the news and about which there has been recent good news -- the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. As you know, this initiative will require passports for all U.S. citizens traveling overseas.
We are aware that this requirement has touched off considerable concern here in The Bahamas, as it will represent a change to existing requirements for Americans returning from the Bahamas.
Let me just take a moment to explain why we are taking this step. In 2004, the U.S. Congress passed the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act, which mandated that the U.S. Secretaries of Homeland Security and State develop and implement a plan to require U.S. citizens and foreign nationals to present a passport or other appropriate secure identity and citizenship documentation when entering the United States. For many years U.S. citizens, and some citizens of other countries in the Western Hemisphere have not been required to present a passport or other secure identification to enter the U.S. Instead, a wide variety of less secure documentationhas been accepted. In light of new security threats, however, the United States will require travelers from the Bahamas to have a passport for entry into the United States.
The goal here is not to limit American travelers, but to ensure open, secure borders, that provide confidence and encouragement to all legitimate travelers. When we make travel more secure for American citizens, we make it more secure for everyone. By improving our document security and making illegitimate travel more difficult, we will increase the confidence of all persons to travel freely. With necessary security measures in place, we can help eliminate future events that could make people afraid to travel overseas.
We do understand that these changes have implications for you as hoteliers, who depend on American tourists. As you may know, Ambassador Rood worked diligently to convey to Washington your concerns and the concerns of the Bahamian Government with the initial proposal that had called for implementation of this requirement at the end of this year. As a result of these interventions, we have been successful in ensuring a delay in implementation of the Initiative for the Caribbean until December 31st, 2006, which will ensure that the region is not disadvantaged vis-à-vis any other tourist destination.
While this is good news, I think it is also fair to say that further delay is unlikely. Moving forward, we are committed to working with affected stakeholders to minimize any negative impact of this initiative. In the coming months, as soon as the change is finalized, you will see heavy media outreach to publicize the new passport requirement as well as outreach to the airline industry and the cruise ship industry. We will prepare notices to travelers departing the Bahamas visible in the Customs and Border Patrol area, and, with the assistance of the Government of the Bahamas and hoteliers, we hope to provide brochures about the change to all American citizen travelers departing the Bahamas.
In fact, international travelers are already adjusting: passport applications have surged and we are expanding our passport issuing offices in preparation for continued high demand. As we move forward to prepare to implement this change, we welcome your suggestions and support in getting the word out to American visitors to the Bahamas.
VISITOR SAFETY
Let me turn now to the critical issue of visitor safety. In considering the fundamentals of The Bahamas tourism product and its appeal to Americans, clearly safety is a primary concern for all travelers. In this regard, the Embassy is very pleased that The Bahamas is taking such an innovative approach to visitor safety. I would like to personally thank the Hotel Association for your active participation in the recent visitor safety conference, and your ongoing efforts to work with the Royal Bahamas Police Force to improve visitor safety and security. The Embassy was pleased to be able to participate in this event, and looks forward to joining in many of the initiatives discussed during that event.
As you are aware, one of the most important duties for any Embassy is to protect their citizens abroad. Our Embassy’s strategy to promote visitor safety has three central elements: to prevent criminal acts against Americans from occurring; to provide assistance to victims; and to see that complaints are thoroughly investigated and prosecuted.
Prevention is our top priority for obvious reasons: we want to keep Americans safe, and you want to be sure visitors return. Today’s travelers carefully investigate the safety and security of their destination before making travel plans. The State Department offers updated information on the web regarding safety issues in every country in the world. Our guidance reflects the success of local efforts to ensure security.
Once tourists are in country, you as hoteliers can do much to avert problems by informing visitors about local conditions and encouraging responsible behavior that will reduce their vulnerabilities and help prevent crime. I know much thought is being given to how this can be done even more effectively. We welcome and support these efforts.
The second part of our strategy is victim assistance. No matter how much prevention we do, some crimes will inevitably occur. When they do, we must be prepared to do all we can to assist those in need. In these cases, the U.S. Embassy has a special responsibility toward American visitors, one that we seek to carry out with sensitivity and compassion.
I have been impressed by the many stories I have heard of the extraordinary cooperation and care your hotels have provided to American victims of crime. Just Tuesday night, an American Citizen was assaulted and robbed on Cable Beach. Her hotel went above and beyond the expected, offering immediate assistance to our embassy officers working on the case, and providing the individual with monetary and travel assistance to allow her to return home. Time and again we have seen similar stories of generosity and compassion toward hotel customers. Please accept our most sincere thanks for your help in responding to the needs of these American visitors.
The third element of our visitor safety strategy is to ensure swift and fair justice when a crime does occur. The Embassy stands ready to act as a liaison with the police and hotels, to calm and protect victims so that all necessary statements and evidence can be gathered. Because such victims are in an unfamiliar environment, both they and any American witnesses tend to be comforted by the presence of an Embassy officer. This sense of assurance usually allows the investigation to proceed more smoothly. Thank you for your continued support and willingness to work with our officers.
Bottom line here: We all share the same basic goal: keeping visitors safe. We stand ready to help you achieve this goal in any way we can.
AIRPORT SECURITY
Another area where the U.S. Embassy can work with the Government of the Bahamas and tourism entities is at the airport, where we are working to enhance the speed and quality of customs and immigration clearances and TSA security checks.
First off, I am pleased to report that efforts to increase the capacity of security checkpoints and alleviate security delays are ongoing. We are working with the government to increase the number of stations and x-ray machines passengers have available to them at every stage in the process.
At the same time, we are examining the effectiveness of the current process, and are actively exploring ways to simplify the series of checks that passengers must currently pass through to board their plane.
Plans have just been approved that will add to the efficiency of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection area by centralizing the bank of inspector booths in order to open up additional space and eliminate the often unequal lines found in the current two-sided system. This will allow us to place additional officers in secondary security. We are confident that these changes will significantly reduce the time needed to get passengers from check-in to the gate. The United States spends 30 million dollars annually here in the Bahamas to provide this pre-clearance facility, which provides the Bahamas a great advantage over other tourist destinations in the region.
In the near future, once we have some new baggage screening technology in place, we hope to make further progress by checking passenger bags onto conveyor belts earlier in the process. This would allow for the elimination of an entire level of screening. We hope in due course to be able to combine the current pre- and post-Customs security checks into one pre-check, which would greatly reduce passenger wait times and personal inconvenience.
Tourism and the Environment
So far we've been focusing on tourism services. But I would also like to briefly mention an issue at the heart of your tourism product – the environment. Although I have not been here for long, it does not take much time to be impressed with the beautiful beaches, cays and waters of The Bahamas. I can say with certainty that the beauty of these islands serves as a strong draw for the American tourist.
As I am sure most of you already know, recent studies have shown a steady increase in the number of tourists seeking environmentally friendly tourism. One beach is no longer just like another beach. Increasingly, potential tourists want to know more about the range of services and facilities available, about the quality of beaches and reefs, and about what is in the water that shouldn't be in the water. Environmental guides are being developed with some success; and these show that consumer pressure is emerging for clean, eco-friendly destinations.
In many countries around the world, the Ministries of Tourism and Environment are one and the same. This makes good intuitive sense. By considering tourism and the environment as inter-connected, countries can ensure that development of the tourist industry does not threaten the very resource upon which it is built. This is not philanthropy; it simply makes sound business sense to embed good environmental and community policies into business strategies and operations.
I wish to challenge and encourage you today to adopt and apply suitable corporate and social responsibility policies, to embed these in strategies and operations, and to encourage the government to take steps to ensure the long-term preservation of the natural and built environment.
I also encourage you to consider environmental issues in a broad context, including more than water or air pollution. Sight pollution and urban blight are just as glaring and off-putting to the tourist. Your businesses, and all businesses, can help to ensure that zoning and downtown revitalization are part of the overall goals in maintaining a beautiful Bahamas that will continue to draw millions of American tourists.
The central goal should be to promote environmentally friendly tourism as an engine of sustainable development.
FREE TRADE
One final issue, which I believe is of increasing relevance in any discussion of tourism, is free trade. Studies have shown that economic integration between nations also increases tourism between those nations. This has been with case with NAFTA. This has been the case with MERCOSUR. This will be the case with the FTAA.
When trade in goods is liberalized, tourists can get the products necessary for international travel at better prices and quality levels.
When trade in services is liberalized, tourists can obtain transport, communications, and financial services at better price and quality levels.
Likewise, you as service providers will be able to acquire the products that you need to deliver a first-class tourism product cheaply and more efficiently. As a result, more people will travel for pleasure, more will travel for business, and you'll be able to offer a more attractive, competitive product. Tourism and free trade aren't often discussed together, but I believe the link is there and worth exploring.
CONCLUSION
Visitor safety, document security and passport initiatives, airport security and customs clearance, free trade, and environmental concerns are certainly diverse topics. But I think this diversity demonstrates the number of factors that have to work together to ensure a successful tourism product and to ensure safe travel for American citizens. It also reflects the fundamental importance that tourism has in the relationship between the United States and The Bahamas. We at the US Embassy look forward to continuing to work with you to ensure your success and to work with you to protect Americans who visit your shores.
Thank you again for the opportunity to meet with you today. I look forward to listening to you as we continue our conversation.