Get the tourists out of downtown

Fri, Sep 30th 2011, 11:01 AM

From Moses Darville's vantage point, the Ministry of Tourism is missing obvious, easily-developed opportunities that could empower and enrich many more Bahamians.
"My thing is, we claim tourism is the number one industry.  But the majority are not benefitting from it because it's too centralized on Bay Street."
It's past time to set excuses aside and create exciting cultural attractions to draw tourists into "the ghetto" and other non-Bay Street communities, according to Darville.  His experiences and reasoning lead him to conclude the right non-Bay Street attractions will enhance the experience visitors have - leaving them more satisfied
with their vacations while pouring money into areas that truly need it.
It's not a pie-in-the-sky idea, but one Darville said he knows would work if implemented properly.  The twenty-six year old is an account administrator with a prestigious trust company, but also the entrepreneur behind Moses Water Depot on Soldier Road.
It's not a business, or location, typically associated with a direct benefit from the tourism industry.  Just a month ago, however, some tourists got off their flight and headed directly to Soldier Road for conch salad, he said.  Two-hundred dollars later, local businesses had earned some unexpected foreign exchange from the excursion by just a couple of visitors.
Darville said he saw the concept at work when matriculating in Cuba - before completing a bachelors in economics and finance at the College of The Bahamas.  In Cuba, he said it was common to see tourists paying for long excursions into the interior, often by bus, and spending money where they went.
"If you have 100 people a day patronize an area, the spin-off from that would be tremendous," he said.  "We need 'Arawak Cays' throughout these communities - where people don't depend on getting a job but create jobs for themselves."
Moses would like to see cultural centres throughout the island.  In addition to the "Arawak Cays" idea, he forwarded a national heroes monument in South Beach as an example.  Police and defence force bands could be used to play at venues like Clifton or at spruced up forts too, he said.  His point was that through creativity, a minimal amount of resources could create exciting tourist attractions.
"There are buttons they can push that won't cost them anything," he said.
Perhaps the obvious question would be, with level of crime in New Providence, is it a good idea to expose more tourists to the rest of New Providence?
Darville, however, is unconvinced that crime should deter a move in this direction.  First, he believes there are stigmas unfairly attached to certain areas, where people walk the streets in peace despite the growing crime numbers.
It's a "mentality issue", he said - with even some of his friends afraid to leave the 'safety' of Westridge for urban safari on Soldier Road.  Much of the violent crime being committed is not random, but perpetrated by people known to the victim, he said.
Then there is the fact that Bay Street has a heavier, visible police presence, with many officers on foot.  Along with closed circuit television (CCTV), that police presence would build confidence about the safety of those areas, he said.
"Do you know what that would do for self esteem in the area?  That would encourage people to paint their houses and improve their businesses.  It would bring out the positive in people and bring them together."

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