There are some things you just can’t get online. A thick book you can thumb through and read at your leisure, rich in images and history of the architecture and times that helped create The Bahamas we know, for instance.

This week, just such a book, Island Follies, Romantic Homes of The Bahamas, a tribute to the whimsical and romantic island escapes and some of Nassau’s most celebrated buildings, attracted a diverse audience for a book-signing event.

Co-author Tanya Melich Crone (seated) toiled for more than three years, visiting dozens of homes and buildings her late father, the famed Czech-born architect Henry Melich, designed.

The first in a series of limited book signings was hosted by Oasis, the tony furniture and home décor store in Sandyport.

Top photo shows Sue Roberts thumbing through the pages of history and sister Midge enjoys the repertoire as Mrs. Roberts recounted the tale of the Melich-designed Norfolk House law office of her late husband, former Eleuthera MP Noel Roberts, and a vine from the property that survives today, more than half a century later, at her residence.

Below, a younger generation is just as fascinated – that’s top-performing real estate professionals CJ and Vanessa Ansell getting their book signed while Breanne and Heath Pritchard wait their turn.

 

There are some things you just can’t get online. A thick book you can thumb through and read at your leisure, rich in images and history of the architecture and times that helped create The Bahamas we know, for instance. This week, just such a book, Island Follies, Romantic Homes of The Bahamas, a tribute to the whimsical and romantic island escapes and some of Nassau’s most celebrated buildings, attracted a diverse audience for a book-signing event. Co-author Tanya Melich Crone (seated) toiled for more than three years, visiting dozens of homes and buildings her late father, the famed Czech-born architect Henry Melich, designed. The first in a series of limited book signings was hosted by Oasis, the tony furniture and home décor store in Sandyport. Top photo shows Sue Roberts thumbing through the pages of history and sister Midge enjoys the repertoire as Mrs. Roberts recounted the tale of the Melich-designed Norfolk House law office of her late husband, former Eleuthera MP Noel Roberts, and a vine from the property that survives today, more than half a century later, at her residence. Below, a younger generation is just as fascinated – that’s top-performing real estate professionals CJ and Vanessa Ansell getting their book signed while Breanne and Heath Pritchard wait their turn.

Every prime minister deserves a lighter moment and PM Philip ‘Brave’ Davis was treated to one with the presentation of a poetic treatise on the Bahamian spirit by Shayne Davis.

The four-page soliloquy takes a hard and highly humorous look at the resilience and sometimes hypocritical style of Bahamians but always in the end a people who know their value. Davis said he was inspired to write the poem on the 54th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s death which “brought back all the memories and emotions of his passion for the betterment of all under-appreciated people.” He dedicated the poem called Shinin’ Bright to those who question their value in today’s Bahamas, reinforcing MLK’s message that regardless of station or status, ‘We are somebody.’

Some who have read it think it should be put to music for the official song of the 50th Anniversary of Independence.

Davis, Shayne that is, describes himself as a frustrated scientist. After a successful career in finance, he now dedicates himself to serving the less fortunate and dabbling in poetry, a hobby he calls his latest distraction. (Cay Focus Photography)

Calling the taxes and fees on airline tickets to Caribbean nations “counterintuitive”, former Minister of Tourism Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace said it took the COVID-19 pandemic for the governments in the world’s most tourism-dependent region to fully grasp how airline taxes and fees act as deterrents to maximizing tax income and employment from tourism.

Vanderpool-Wallace said a pledge by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to review the taxes and fees on airline tickets in the region could lead to increased economic activity and more tax collection and employment for Caribbean citizens.

“Governments are beginning to recognize the substantial increase in tax collection and employment that can be derived from tourism by increasing visitor arrivals and occupancies of accommodations. The very simple analysis is that for countries running 60 percent annual occupancies, the contribution from tourism can be increase by 50 percent by growing occupancies to 90 percent,” he said during an interview with online magazine Caribbean Journal.

“If decreasing the price of airfare leads to increases in visitor arrivals and occupancies, as every study has shown, the income and employment derived from guest night taxes and the induced and indirect taxes will most assuredly deliver significant tax increases and more employment for citizens. Finally, there is the aforementioned benefit of attracting private carriers. The Caribbean has some of the highest airfares in the world measured on a per mile flown basis. If we can adjust the taxes and fees applied to airline tickets downward, it just might be the tonic needed to stimulate increased intra-Caribbean business and leisure traffic and allow the carriers to earn a little more per seat toward sustainable profitability.”

Vanderpool-Wallace noted however, that given the high cost of tickets to the Caribbean, the kind of visitor that travels to the region may not be so affected by high ticket prices. Still, he said there is the argument that lower prices can spur more interest in the region.

“Studies by IATA and the Caribbean Development Bank have shown similar prospects for the Caribbean. And if you run an average of 40 percent of your rooms vacant every year as we do in this region, there is much space available for those who might be stimulated to travel by better airfares. Further, we congratulate CARICOM heads for some insight that is often missed by many. We do not oppose all taxes and fees on airline tickets, we have always been against high fixed taxes and fees, especially on low airfares. The reason is not difficult to understand,” he said.

“If the base airfare on a ticket is $100 and the fixed taxes and fees on a round trip ticket is $100, we have just raised the price of that ticket by 100 percent. But if the base airfare for some far away source market is $1000, the fixed taxes and fees of $100 raise that total ticker price by only 10 percent.

“So you see that high fixed taxes and fees punish our nearby markets the most. Never mind how we love to brag about visitors from faraway places, nearby markets deliver far more business because of the opportunity for impulse travel and for multiple trips by the same individuals during the course of a year. Take a look at Orlando (50 percent of its business from the state of Florida), Las Vegas (25 percent of its business from southern California) and Macao (40 percent of its business from the nearest province in China). And yes, the nearer markets still outperform more distant source markets when lengths of stay are taken into consideration.”

 

Heather L. Thompson was one of a few authors selected from worldwide submissions to be featured in Expo 2020 Dubai UAE “Children’s Tales from Around the World”. Her story ‘Ber Rabby’s Free Lunch’ has a surprising artist – it’s illustrated by 13-year-old V’ajha Clarke. Clarke, an eighth-grade honor roll student at Bishop Michael Eldon School in Grand Bahama, illustrated the book that is described as a delightful cautionary tale, in the genre of traditional Bahamian folklore. “At first, I was scared to do this project because I am not used to drawing animals – most of the characters I draw are in human form, so this was a challenge for me,” said V’ajha. But she was happy she was able to do it, and that people were pleased with her work. V’ajha is the author/illustrator of ‘The Cats and the Mats: Bahamas Vacation’ and her books will also be featured as part of The Bahamas showcase in Dubai. V’ajha Clarke’s illustrations in Heather L. Thompson’s book “Ber Rabby’s Free Lunch”. The teen’s mom, Vanessa Clarke, said if the world was not in a pandemic, her daughter would have participated in the Dubai Book Expo in person. “That’s my one regret – who doesn’t want to go to Dubai? I wish I could have made that trip, but I understand that we have to be safe, and that’s a priority.” V’ajha’s illustrations are in Thompson’s book, whose poetry has been published in “Anthurium”, “Tongues of the Ocean” and “Poui”. Thompson, a recently retired lawyer who is now engaged as a full-time writer, has also recently ventured into storytelling and the highlight of her storytelling career, to date, has been as a finalist in the 2020 NTUKUMA Ananse Sound Splash Storytelling Conference & Festival, where she told her original story, “How the Flamingo Became Beautiful”. She has told two other original stories, “How Miss Lucy’s Sperrid Was Set Free and “Obeah Does Work for Me” on recent episodes of Caribbean Folklore Storytime. 

Heather L. Thompson was one of a few authors selected from worldwide submissions to be featured in Expo 2020 Dubai UAE “Children’s Tales from Around the World”. Her story ‘Ber Rabby’s Free Lunch’ has a surprising artist – it’s illustrated by 13-year-old V’ajha Clarke.

Clarke, an eighth-grade honor roll student at Bishop Michael Eldon School in Grand Bahama, illustrated the book that is described as a delightful cautionary tale, in the genre of traditional Bahamian folklore.

“At first, I was scared to do this project because I am not used to drawing animals – most of the characters I draw are in human form, so this was a challenge for me,” said V’ajha.

But she was happy she was able to do it, and that people were pleased with her work.

V’ajha is the author/illustrator of ‘The Cats and the Mats: Bahamas Vacation’ and her books will also be featured as part of The Bahamas showcase in Dubai.

V’ajha Clarke’s illustrations in Heather L. Thompson’s book “Ber Rabby’s Free Lunch”.

The teen’s mom, Vanessa Clarke, said if the world was not in a pandemic, her daughter would have participated in the Dubai Book Expo in person.

“That’s my one regret – who doesn’t want to go to Dubai? I wish I could have made that trip, but I understand that we have to be safe, and that’s a priority.”

V’ajha’s illustrations are in Thompson’s book, whose poetry has been published in “Anthurium”, “Tongues of the Ocean” and “Poui”. Thompson, a recently retired lawyer who is now engaged as a full-time writer, has also recently ventured into storytelling and the highlight of her storytelling career, to date, has been as a finalist in the 2020 NTUKUMA Ananse Sound Splash Storytelling Conference & Festival, where she told her original story, “How the Flamingo Became Beautiful”. She has told two other original stories, “How Miss Lucy’s Sperrid Was Set Free and “Obeah Does Work for Me” on recent episodes of Caribbean Folklore Storytime.