Covid surging in Bonaire

[tursiops]

I retract my wording. I was rushing and should not have started my response with "the airlines are not helping either". I know that the government of Bonaire has not restricted the flights from the US. The decision not to fly is an airline business decision.

I was trying to counter deco_martini, because the testing requirement doesn't really matter until the airlines decide to fly. To me, the testing requirement is completely understandable given the current situation on the island. I hope the situation on the island improves quickly. I do hope that we will be able to visit in the fall.

I'm irritated with the current pricing of the other airlines, I am also irritated by what seems like a very early decision to cancel on United's side- who knows, maybe they did it so that they can eventually reschedule the flights and charge twice as much as what my cancelled tickets cost.

My irritation is definitely not with the government of the island or the government of the Netherlands who are just trying to protect people.

Understood.
I and a group have reservations starting July 31 through August. If the planes begin to fly, I'll begin to pack. The testing is doable.

 

[dmaziuk]

I retract my wording. I was rushing and should not have started my response with "the airlines are not helping either".

If you ever compared ticket prices with e.g. Curacao, you know the airlines were never helping. That hasn't changed, so you're good.

 

[dmaziuk]

The only thing actually preventing tourism is the government of Bonaire.

The only thing actually preventing tourism is absence of beaches.

 

[tursiops]

The only thing actually preventing tourism is absence of beaches.

If that is the kind of tourism you like, there are lots of other places to go for that.
Although, there are some very nice beaches on Bonaire.

 

[wgw04024]

Oh please do not let Bonaire turn into a tourist destination....

 

[dmaziuk]

Oh please do not let Bonaire turn into a tourist destination....

Hopefully there isn't enough crack on the island to make TPTB actually buy into that report.

 

[Centrals]

The only thing actually preventing tourism is absence of beaches.

There are NOT that many beaches in most parts of Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand.
There is certainly no beach in Austria, Switzerland etc etc.

 

[Mod63]

There is certainly no beach in Austria, Switzerland etc etc.

Then I must have been to the wrong Austria, because there are some nice lakes with nice beaches

 

[Steelyeyes]

Oh please do not let Bonaire turn into a tourist destination....

Don't worry, Bonaire has a new master plan for that. If it's like the other plans they'll fail to achieve the goal by a wide margin.

Quick story as to how effective things are here. There is something over 7 million euros in an account for road improvement. The hold up was making sure the work would be done to specifications like they expect in the Netherlands. So far two small project have been done, both had issues. The roundabout on Kaya Amsterdam is the best one. It's at the intersection of a road that goes directly to a school. That road was repaved with curbs and everything. Then they built the roundabout. Contractor decided to make it smaller so he'd save money on materials and make more profit. It's too small for school busses and semis to go through so for months while people argue who is at fault (it's obvious when you compare engineering drawings to the actual product) the roundabout remains closed and a dirt bypass road has been used.

One better idea in the new plan to reset tourism is fewer and smaller cruise ships. I doubt they'll pull that off but it's a nice thought.

 

[rmorgan]

Our last visit, so many cruise ships that the grocery shelves were bare. Fewer and smaller sounds great. The USVI is pretty well rebuilt, so maybe they can get back to disrupting the F’sted pier.