In light of a recent surge in COVID-19 positive cases, Government’s decision not to put more stringent measures in place regarding tourist arrivals is being questioned.

Prominent regional economist Marla Dukharan and Barbados-based Attorney at Law Damian Edghill raised the issue in an article titled ‘Setting fish pots in a time of COVID’, in which they also questioned why there has been very little movement on the expansion of other sectors with continued heavy focus on tourism.

In fact, Dukharan and Edghill suggested that as it related to tourism, a “laser focus” should perhaps be placed only on the Barbados Welcome Stamp initiative, at least until the pandemic is over.

“The Welcome Stamp initiative is estimated to have earned the Government about BD$1 million in fees in its first two months with just over 400 applicants processed at that time, and is expected to generate about US$21.5 million in annual property rentals alone.

“The median annual accommodation spend per applicant is roughly US$53,000. The Welcome Stampers are screened for financial fitness and they must have health insurance.

“They are much more likely to adhere to two weeks of quarantine as the stakes are higher, and they are unlikely to become a burden on the state even if they fall ill,” they explained.

“This target market is, in the present circumstances, more lucrative for both the state and for the private sector at large, in addition to being materially less risky. 

“Finally, the current COVID spike is a huge deterrent to would-be Welcome Stampers — but let’s hope that we can recover some of this lost ground.

Reputation is, after all, everything,” they added.

Saying it was perhaps time to go back to basics, Dukharan and Edghill said as discussed “at length” prior to the winter tourist season, there was need to develop other sectors in the local economy to help get the country through this difficult period.

They suggested that in doing so, focus should be on self-sufficiency by way of agriculture, which authorities seemed to have put on the back burner; solar and renewable energy; offshore financial services and the digital economy.

“An incoming wire transfer or foreign direct investment deal cannot break out of quarantine and need not be sanitized.

“Why is the Government’s budget to support the offshore financial services sector less than 10 per cent of that for tourism, which, although providing employment, is possibly a net foreign exchange drain on the economy?” they queried.

Questioning if authorities took the best “calculated risk” by not implementing more stringent protocols, the duo said: “A policy decision was made to set pots for tourists, hoping for a lucrative catch.

“Unfortunately, and inevitably, in addition to the coveted brims, snappers and chubs, a few congas, lionfish and Bajan sculpins were in the mix. Prolific species they are, too”.

“The lionfish swam to our waters all the way from Florida, and so too has COVID, from far away yonduh!

The difference being that Barbados took a ‘calculated risk’ to knowingly allow some COVID in by setting relatively relaxed protocols, in the hope that our pot ‘mesh’ was fine enough to control its spread.

“The reason? Presumably because the average tourist mightn’t want to quarantine for two weeks,” they added.

“Before taking a ‘calculated risk’, one must first ask whether it is even necessary to take it in the first place, and then decide whether it is worth taking, and to what degree.

“Do we already have the means to get by until the pandemic is brought under control? Are we safe enough at present? And most of all, what are the potential consequences if a ‘(mis)calculated risk’ were to backfire? “The old-time people were conservative in that way.

They weren’t ‘customed’ to having much. Are we gambling what we can afford to lose, or is life at stake? And in taking this risk ‘for a few dollars more,’ are we endangering the economy even further? “Naturally, it comes down to a question of balance and degree. But once life in a pandemic is involved, taking such a risk tends more to gambling in its most dangerous manifestation — Russian Roulette,as so vividly portrayed by Robert De Niro in the classic movie ‘The Deer Hunter’,” they explained.

The article pointed out that Government has already had to pay about 33,000 unemployment beneficiaries over BD$70 million, even before the most recent spike in positive COVID-19 cases, while questioning if the current risks were worth the estimated US$2,000 on average per tourist per week.

“We don’t know the cost to the state of all the associated testing, retesting, quarantining and healthcare for those currently affected.

This, not to mention the further cost to the private sector and the overall economy due to possible closures of businesses and schools, employee absenteeism as a result of having to test and isolate, potential closure of the Barbados Port Inc., etc.” said Dukharan.

She pointed out that a temporary shift away from traditional stopover tourism would have a short-term trade off of higher unemployment “but our entrenched tourism approach is presently, at once the Holy Grail and the poisoned chalice”.

“The evidently dire consequences suggest that the recent relaxed protocol experiment has failed, so the question arises, are we now in more danger than ever before, for a few dollars more? “If we are to improve, we must ask ourselves the question as to whether this experiment has resulted in a net benefit”.

Pointing out that there was no shame in admitting where one has gone wrong and changing one’s position based on hard experience, they warned “let’s be slow to repeat this mistake”.

“It has been proven that the natural advantage of being an island nation with controlled borders is the best possible defense in this pandemic scenario, and the relative cost of that versus the alternative is acceptable.

“Protocols should be modified in order to protect the health and economy of the nation as the top priority, then, let the market decide. We may yet be pleasantly surprised as to how long visitors may be willing to quarantine in order to enjoy Barbados, provided we are able to re-establish our reputation as having COVID under control”. 

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