I dont know about all the 'economic' downside to all this ....
If the Native Americans during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
imposed such a tax .... maybe they wouldnt have lost their country.

I live in an area that attracts a lot of 'tourists'. First the tourists
started arriving, then some started to stay, then the toursists who
stayed changed everything they could so that what was once a pristine
beautiful area .. now looks like the blighted areas where the toursts
come from ....then the whole area collapsed and was ruined due to the
weight of all the tourists: cost of living went up, the tourists
consumed all the open space, changed all the customs and laws to suit
thier own selfish needs, totally destroyed a quaint rural setting to one
of high density suburban sprawl, etc. --- and totally destroyed the area.

Personally if the Bahamians want to preserve their country, they should
RAISE the fees higher and perhaps impose a quota system for entry.

Glenn Ashmore wrote:
Dosn't look all that edited to me other than cutting some profanity.

I have to agree that the Bahamian government has made a big mistake. The
islands already have the highest tourist dissatisfaction rate (12%) of
any tourist oriented country in the world. This is just going to make
it worse. Bimini and Walker Key are really going to be hurt quickly but
overall this is just another nail in the coffen of Bahamian tourism.
There is even some backlash building among travel agents booking
non-boating tourists. The way this fee was handled on top of the high
dissatisfaction rate is going to have an effect on all tourist bookings,
not just our boating comunity.

OTOH, the Bahamian citizens' view is a little different. Most of their
objections about depleting resources is bogus but they do have a couple
of valid points. We can enter the Bahamas with a drivers licence. With
the PATRIOT act in effect, they have to pay $100 for a single entry visa
application which is not refundable if the visa is rejected and 214(b)
rejections are quite common. In their mind it just evens the playing field.

Looks like Van Sant is going to have to find another thorny path.

Yachtbroker wrote:

we also have complete content of site before forcefully edited and
will forward
in doc. format to anyone requesting.