Bahamians were yesterday warned to brace for “more significant casualties” in the tourism industry as Baha Mar started terminating hundreds of workers.
Dionisio D’Aguilar, minister of tourism and aviation, said The Bahamas “will suffer more victims” from the COVID-19 pandemic than less tourism-dependent nations as the Cable Beach mega resort yesterday informed the workers it is releasing via phone calls.
Baha Mar did not respond to questions seeking confirmation on how many staff will be terminated, or what percentage of its workforce that represents. However, Darrin Woods, the Bahamas Hotel, Catering and Allied Workers Union’s (BHCAWU) president, said 328 workers had been released from its Melia Nassau Beach property alone.
While Baha Mar’s other resorts are not unionised, Woods said he had heard the number impacted by the terminations at those hotels “ranges from 1,200 to 1,300”, although he was unable to confirm that.
While Baha Mar’s move comes as little surprise given that it first flagged the lay-offs two weeks’ ago, it still represented one half of yesterday’s ‘double whammy’ for the Bahamian economy and tourism industry given that Atlantis, its mega resort rival, revealed its own re-opening date has been pushed back three weeks to July 30.
