Has it made us inferior to the tourist we serve? I ask this question because I was eating a piece of fish at my goddy's house and it was steamed grouper fillet and it tasted funny like it was spoil or something so her friend who works at a hotel over PI was saying that's this is the fish we give to the tourist, "its the expensive fish and its for them"...so I asked her...so Im not good enough to eat grouper fillet, I have to save it for the tourist...I proceeded to inform her that I know 'bout eating grouper fingers since I was a small child in Exuma going to sam gray and eating them on lunch break and the tourist didnt come before me in my country...she (tryed to) redeem herself and went on to say that its because of the bones in the other fish that's why they couldnt eat them...I went on to tell her that well they better get some tilapia or flounder for them as the nassau grouper is on the endangered species list and if we want our children's children to enjoy it we better stop.

Maybe Im just biased towards hotel jobs and the industry and I dont like it because I know we can be so much more...So I ask yinna how do you feel about tourism, because Im of the firm belief that it makes us all a homogenous brew of low- income earning maids and servants...and Im frightened that is all our leaders see us as and its looking like that is all they have planned for us with all this bedmaking economics, giving ourselves a raw deal and giving away our Bahamian land to foreignors for nothing

...you see why education is so important...because it leads to further opportunity...

what do you think?

industry too volatile... dem 'merican boyz get mad at us, our luck buck and plenty people out of work.... makes us subject to the whimz of big brother... and plus since it's not bahamianz owning the monster money maker resortz... well... but it's what we've got... so we better work it instead of cry and let it work us...

Has it made us inferior to the tourist we serve? I ask this question because I was eating a piece of fish at my goddy's house and it was steamed grouper fillet and it tasted funny like it was spoil or something so her friend who works at a hotel over PI was saying that's this is the fish we give to the tourist, "its the expensive fish and its for them"...so I asked her...so Im not good enough to eat grouper fillet, I have to save it for the tourist...I proceeded to inform her that I know 'bout eating grouper fingers since I was a small child in Exuma going to sam gray and eating them on lunch break and the tourist didnt come before me in my country...she (tryed to) redeem herself and went on to say that its because of the bones in the other fish that's why they couldnt eat them...I went on to tell her that well they better get some tilapia or flounder for them as the nassau grouper is on the endangered species list and if we want our children's children to enjoy it we better stop.
Maybe Im just biased towards hotel jobs and the industry and I dont like it because I know we can be so much more...So I ask yinna how do you feel about tourism, because Im of the firm belief that it makes us all a homogenous brew of low- income earning maids and servants...and Im frightened that is all our leaders see us as and its looking like that is all they have planned for us with all this bedmaking economics, giving ourselves a raw deal and giving away our Bahamian land to foreignors for nothing
...you see why education is so important...because it leads to further opportunity...
what do you think?

It is psychologically understandable how u feel.Many people in the service biz feel subservient to da ones they serve.Even tho it seems you personally are not,u mussee know plenty who are in dat biz.
I know da fish story is jus an example and da best should be available to errybody,but when yall selling a product(tourism) an you wantit to be sucessful,it must be da best it can be.See....manufacturing a tangible product is much easier den manufacturing hospitality,cuz human psychology comes inta play n adjustin one's attitude to please all da time is tuff.
Education...absolutely,but rememba someone has to do these tourism jobs in da interim,if we even eva find an alternate industry."If u too smart to get ya hands dirty,someone will have to be paid to do it for u".Always..da way it is.And I do not mean u specifically.:)

Has it made us inferior to the tourist we serve? I ask this question because I was eating a piece of fish at my goddy's house and it was steamed grouper fillet and it tasted funny like it was spoil or something so her friend who works at a hotel over PI was saying that's this is the fish we give to the tourist, "its the expensive fish and its for them"...so I asked her...so Im not good enough to eat grouper fillet, I have to save it for the tourist...I proceeded to inform her that I know 'bout eating grouper fingers since I was a small child in Exuma going to sam gray and eating them on lunch break and the tourist didnt come before me in my country...she (tryed to) redeem herself and went on to say that its because of the bones in the other fish that's why they couldnt eat them...I went on to tell her that well they better get some tilapia or flounder for them as the nassau grouper is on the endangered species list and if we want our children's children to enjoy it we better stop.
Maybe Im just biased towards hotel jobs and the industry and I dont like it because I know we can be so much more...So I ask yinna how do you feel about tourism, because Im of the firm belief that it makes us all a homogenous brew of low- income earning maids and servants...and Im frightened that is all our leaders see us as and its looking like that is all they have planned for us with all this bedmaking economics, giving ourselves a raw deal and giving away our Bahamian land to foreignors for nothing
...you see why education is so important...because it leads to further opportunity...
what do you think?


I understand where you are coming from, but it is important to bare in mind, service is not servitude. There is a fine line between the two, so we must be careful in how we approach the service industry, so as not to become a bunch of yes massa, no massa. I worked in tourism for many years and although I gave the best service I possibly could, i never once felt inferior. So it's a mindset, we, as Bahamians, have got to be proud of who we are, we've got to be proud to be Bahamian.

Don't knock tourism, it gave the country the dollars it needed to develop, the maids and cooks were able to send their kids off to school to become lawyers, doctors etc, and many hotel employees went on to become entrepreneurs.

Once we instill pride in our children, they will never feel inferior to anyone. Service is service for money, it's not servitude or subjugation. A hotel worker, giving service to a guest, is no different from a bank employee, giving service to his or her client.

PS. Yes the Bahamas is selling itself short, we can be much more.

a job can't make you feel bad about yourself, and service isn't slavery.

i have washes, set tables, served drinks, typed letters, cleaned fish, answered phones, swabbed toilets and scrubbed sinks in my time, and have no issue with tourism being one of the backbones of the bahamian economy. i like seeing people happy to visit our lovely bahamaland, and changing sheets sure beats factory work, especially the kind that makes its way to a third world country.

i do believe that the bahamas COULD do a lot more with its resources, but until those school test scores start improving, we are screwed. i think we kidded ourselves that we could all become bank vice presidents straight out of queen's college, i swear ... and ii don't know anyone who can hire anyone who doesn't know how to read, write, and analyze.

Maybe Im just biased towards hotel jobs and the industry and I dont like it because I know we can be so much more...So I ask yinna how do you feel about tourism, because Im of the firm belief that it makes us all a homogenous brew of low- income earning maids and servants...and Im frightened that is all our leaders see us as and its looking like that is all they have planned for us with all this bedmaking economics, giving ourselves a raw deal and giving away our Bahamian land to foreignors for nothing
...you see why education is so important...because it leads to further opportunity...

i agree with you. i think tourism makes things too easy for us, which is why we don't realize or put education as a priority. i don't need to graduate with a 3.5 average, i can work in the hotel and make my money without tertiary education (*i'm not saying hotel workers are uneducated etc. pleez dnt jump down my throat*) i'm saying that the convienience of the tourism industry has facilitated our thinking that the best belongs to those who are visiting to pay for it while education and personal feelings of superiority take a back seat...

a job can't make you feel bad about yourself, and service isn't slavery.
i have washes, set tables, served drinks, typed letters, cleaned fish, answered phones, swabbed toilets and scrubbed sinks in my time, and have no issue with tourism being one of the backbones of the bahamian economy. i like seeing people happy to visit our lovely bahamaland, and changing sheets sure beats factory work, especially the kind that makes its way to a third world country.
i do believe that the bahamas COULD do a lot more with its resources, but until those school test scores start improving, we are screwed. i think we kidded ourselves that we could all become bank vice presidents straight out of queen's college, i swear ... and ii don't know anyone who can hire anyone who doesn't know how to read, write, and analyze.

I dont have a problem with doing most of what you alluded to, as long as Im doing it for me. Its the ownership that is the big thing with me...we dont have ownership of most of the tourism product its all foreign that frightening and very scary...we never see most of the money, only the droppings...that's not fair to us...so when I say stuff like im looking for the Bahamian billionaire and I cant find her anywhere that what I mean...Our govt isnt looking to us to give the land and concessions too its always the foreignor...I already know my abilities, but im thinking does the govt recognize mine? does the govt not think that Im good enough to help my Bahamas be better? I guess theyll show me more than theyll ever tell me cus 121 developments are in the works and I betcha I can count on one hand how many of them have Bahamian financial backers or Bahamians period behind them and that's is a national travesty.

i agree with you. i think tourism makes things too easy for us, which is why we don't realize or put education as a priority. i don't need to graduate with a 3.5 average, i can work in the hotel and make my money without tertiary education (*i'm not saying hotel workers are uneducated etc. pleez dnt jump down my throat*) i'm saying that the convienience of the tourism industry has facilitated our thinking that the best belongs to those who are visiting to pay for it while education and personal feelings of superiority take a back seat...

why not use tourism employment to your advantage as something to do till you get where you want to be (with an exit strategy) and not the and all be all of my employment...what kind of benefits does it offer..do hotels have tuition reimbursement programs...saving plans compreble to 401Ks, scholarship for employees kids?

I dont have a problem with doing most of what you alluded to, as long as Im doing it for me. Its the ownership that is the big thing with me...we dont have ownership of most of the tourism product its all foreign that frightening and very scary...we never see most of the money, only the droppings...that's not fair to us...so when I say stuff like im looking for the Bahamian billionaire and I cant find her anywhere that what I mean...Our govt isnt looking to us to give the land and concessions too its always the foreignor...I already know my abilities, but im thinking does the govt recognize mine? does the govt not think that Im good enough to help my Bahamas be better? I guess theyll show me more than theyll ever tell me cus 121 developments are in the works and I betcha I can count on one hand how many of them have Bahamian financial backers or Bahamians period behind them and that's is a national travesty.


yeah, well, that's been a long time coming ...

we do have bahamian tourism product, but bahamians these days don't as a rule support their own, and would much rather buy from anyone else but another bahamian. we can't even hire another bahamian to clean a bahamians house ;-(. crabs in the barrel, you say? i dunno. but there have been plenty of bahamian hotel owners along the way of this tourism adventure we all partake in, but most bahamians wouldn't know the first thing about voting with their pocketbook to support a bahamian sister or brother.

before you sit there and complain that government is only up and giving property away to foreigners, please consider the fact that the fastest-growing bayside tourism businesses in north eleuthera for the past ten years have been built by bahamians on commonage land, on eleuthera. with loans from government.

on eleuthera alone, we have hilton's haven, the landing, seashells inn, baretta's, any number of small inns, privately-owned (by bahamians) second homes for rent, local restaurants, local shops. even the new cotton bay club, which we should be celebrating for its majority bahamian ownership, gets dragged down by the naysayers who would rather complain than do anything real or substantial to change things.

crabs in the barrel, you say? i dunno.
My apologies if you misunderstood me but I was talking about the govt investing in its own a la crown land and concessions and the red carpet...

i think i understood most of your original post. i merely disagree to a certain extent, in that while i DO think that there is tons more that government can do to make itself more accountable and part of a stronger bahamian nation, you cannot ignore the few things that have been done.

crown land on harbour island was purchased a few years back to develop as a beach park for the local community ... crown land on eleuthera was set aside to build a fixed base operator (private aviation business) at north eleuthera airport, owned by bahamians. north eleuthera is in the midst of establishing preacher's cave as a national park, again on a mix of crown and commonage land. in my limited experience, a bahamian who showed up with a decent business plan and experience in that field more often than not got assistance from government, whether development bank or baic or otherwise.

i personally think that government or no, the country isn't going anywhere fast until individual bahamians take it upon themselves to change their purchasing behavior, their investment behavior, their nurturing/educational behavior. i still don't see much diff between fnm and plp, so my money is on the individual bahamian rising to the challenge.

baby steps, but een nuttin' ...

Has it made us inferior to the tourist we serve? I ask this question because I was eating a piece of fish at my goddy's house and it was steamed grouper fillet and it tasted funny like it was spoil or something so her friend who works at a hotel over PI was saying that's this is the fish we give to the tourist, "its the expensive fish and its for them"...so I asked her...so Im not good enough to eat grouper fillet, I have to save it for the tourist...I proceeded to inform her that I know 'bout eating grouper fingers since I was a small child in Exuma going to sam gray and eating them on lunch break and the tourist didnt come before me in my country...she (tryed to) redeem herself and went on to say that its because of the bones in the other fish that's why they couldnt eat them...I went on to tell her that well they better get some tilapia or flounder for them as the nassau grouper is on the endangered species list and if we want our children's children to enjoy it we better stop.
Maybe Im just biased towards hotel jobs and the industry and I dont like it because I know we can be so much more...So I ask yinna how do you feel about tourism, because Im of the firm belief that it makes us all a homogenous brew of low- income earning maids and servants...and Im frightened that is all our leaders see us as and its looking like that is all they have planned for us with all this bedmaking economics, giving ourselves a raw deal and giving away our Bahamian land to foreignors for nothing
...you see why education is so important...because it leads to further opportunity...
what do you think?


All very good points, but let me put this on the table...

When a friend, extended family, or a stranger come to your house, more often than not, you ask if they want something to drink or eat. If they say 'yes', you don't get insulted or tell them to get it themselves. You oblige your guests desires.

Despite the fact that a Bahamian may cook, serve and clean for tourists at a hotel, they are still guests in THE COUNTRY. Service isn't servitude and if the server was better educated, they would be considered for a higher position. That's only natural

I agree with every point about Bahamian ownership and Crown Land developments. There's plenty of Bahamian wealth in the Bahamas, but why aren't those that have the financial depth putting it into a tourist product? Something must scare them about it, but I don't know what it is...

There's plenty of Bahamian wealth in the Bahamas, but why aren't those that have the financial depth putting it into a tourist product? Something must scare them about it, but I don't know what it is...


Perhaps they don't want to deal with the stress of the unions. You think Bahamians have problems when foreigners fire them, wait until two countrymen fight.

You also have to put into play the massive consessions foreign investors get when they invest...especially the huge investors. I haven't heard of Bahamians getting the same thing, since starting a hotel is definitely not cheap, as you have to pay the kind of money foreign investors do not pay (much less want to). I wonder what our economy would be like if both Bahamians and foreigners would be allowed to walk on the same "red capet for investors"?


Now as for how does tourism makes me feel? Actually I like to live in a country where people actually want to visit. Now this industry does tend to create some kind of inferiority complex, that's what it does in every country that has a big tourism sector, and to some people involved in it, esspecially if tourism was not what you inteded to do, but ends up as your only respectable (or for some semi-respectable) way to pay the bills. Of course for us, it is our biggest industry, dwarfing every other industry, so you have an inferiority complex on a bigger scale. We do have to be careful about that though, especially with our children. We can't afford to allow our children to think that the best of this country is only preseved for foreigners who will only see this place for 4 days in their life. That is what some people are doing.

That also hurts the industry when you fill it with people that grow with that kind of mindset in the first place, hence alot of "stink" employees who treat both Bahamian tourists, and Foreign tourists badly. It does start with our children. Like lock75 said, put pride in them, give them appriciation for our country. OUt of those future Bahamians, you will have people who really want to be in the industry/ have talent for the industry/ want to invest in the industry. That would tie into education which would produce the people that would diversify the economy and at the same time create a better industry.

you want to make money in the tourist industry? you don't need a lot of money to invest in a big fancy hotel. simply open your very own bed & breakfast. I've met many tourist who ask me for places like that to stay cause they don't want to stay at the big hotels. they want a more down home experience. so don't wait for the tourist dollar to trickle down to you. a bed & breakfast will provide lottsa money directly to your pocket. and don't forget to be nice so you can have many happy returning clients.

I have nothing against tourism and applaud those who work in the industry. My only problem is that even though tourism has sustained us for many years it is time to diversify, the Government seems hell bent on putting all of it's eggs in one basket. An anchor property on each island may seem like a solution, but in a world that is changing so rapidly we need a back up plan. Despite everything else, let's look at hurricanes, after the twin storms of 2004 can we really continue to rely on tourism, take a look at Nassau, you can almost say that Sol Kerzner is single handedly propping up the economy, God forbid something should go wrong with him. Grand Bahama learnt a very hard lesson, one property shut down and the economy went right along with it. I do not want my finances or the economy to be measured by how many hurricanes passed through the Bahamas or another terrorist threat to America. We must have a plan.