The biggest barrier to Caribbean integration is the difficulty of moving around in the region.
All right, let’s face it. We were travelling from the northernmost point in CARICOM to just about the most southerly; there’s got to be some challenge from moving from The Bahamas to Guyana. But does it have to be this much?
I don’t know. It would seem that the barrier posed by Cuba and Hispaniola to The Bahamas, the so-called “Gateway” to the Caribbean, is real. You can’t fly further south than Jamaica if you’re flying directly from The Bahamas, not if you’re flying commercial airlines. Everything else has to go through Miami, which is forty minutes to an hour out of the way. So this is the route we took, flying on the routes that the airlines provide for us.
Now lest we imagine that the limitations on moving around the region are neocolonial, posed by the outside, barriers to movement controlled and managed by our former colonial masters, know this: there are any number of local and regional carriers that I can name. I’ll start by calling the names of those I have already flown in my lifetime: Bahamasair, Havana Air, Air Jamaica, Caribbean Air (the airline formerly known as BWIA), Liat. Ooh, look: five airlines that belong to the region! And yet not one of them (Air Jamaica excepted) crosses the barrier created by the Greater Antilles to link The Bahamas with the Caribbean proper.
The result: it takes forever and costs a fortune to travel from north to south in the Caribbean, and vice versa. Although it takes a mere 3 hours as the crow flies for a plane to get from Nassau to Port of Spain, and a mere 4 and a half, or 5 (depending on the Gulf Stream, I suppose) from Nassau to Georgetown, it took us from 12:13 (a quarter past noon) till 2 a.m. to get from Nassau to Georgetown yesterday.
Part of the problem, let me tell you, was Caribbean Air. I won’t go into details now, but rest assured I will post about it. There was a layover of 4 unscheduled hours in Trinidad and Tobago, a layover that was apparently foreseen but not foretold, a layover that has yet to be satisfactorily explained either to the passengers affected or to those people meeting us in Georgetown.
We arrived here, eventually. And we were comfortable enough last night, very well received, and treated with courtesy by the Guyanese. But it didn’t quite take the taste of our ordeal out of our mouths.
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Actually, the side trip through Miami is more like three to four hours out of the way since one rarely has a layover of less than two hours and, then, it is still necessary to fly BACK across the Bahamas (often with the pilot announcing that “We’re now going over Andros” forty-minutes into the flight) en route to one’s actual destination.
Apparently, Bahamas Air briefly offered direct flights from Nassau to Santo Domingo a few years ago but, alas, they’ve been discontinued. Given the growing number of Puerto Rican tourists who visit the Bahamas, I’m surprised that one of the major airlines has yet to offer direct flights from Nassau to San Juan.
Unfortunately for those traveling further east, most traffic between the Greater and Lesser Antilles (with the exception of Liat) gets bottled up in the San Juan hub (along with the inconvenience of passing through U.S. customs and immigration between two non-U.S. points of travel) in much the same way that outgoing and incoming air traffic from Nassau gets routed through Miami.
As you’ve noted, new routes and travel options from Caribbean and foreign carriers alike would greatly enhance travel in the region.
I am very to happy to have stumbled unto your blog. More importantly I caught a few of the pod casts and will make sure that I get to listen to the earlier ones. Your reflection on Carifesta really did provide a clear narrative on the Carifesta model, as we know it, and a first hand insight on the complexities of hosting this festival in the various countries. With respect to the Diaspora you indicated that folks were inviting themselves. That is true to some extent. However, in the Guyana model this was a very organized process by the Guyanese to engage the Diaspora on several fronts. Skills transfer, performances, marketing to the Diaspora, etc.. The Guyanese were able to utilize a team of University of Ohio media students to help with their broadcast as part of an exchange program organized by a diaspora professor.
What we can take away from that example, if we juxtapose it with cultural industries, is the opportunity to properly leverage the diaspora- in terms of media exposure in the Global marketplace. I really do believe that this festival has the qualities to capture the attention of the global market place.
Further, I think this is the big bang for your buck opportunity that needs to be in place from year one of the planning process. The signal programs could very well be the key components for an extensive media promotion leading up to Carifesta. The list of performers you provided are the gems of the Caribbean and if they used effectively in a pre-Carifesta campaign hosts coutries will be able to build a large audience base for future festivals.
I really did enjoy being at the festival and would like to see the issue of travel hammered out well in advance of the next festival.
Peace. One world…
Malcolm, thank you for stopping by, and thanks for your kind, and very useful, words. I have passed some of them on to the Minister of State for Culture, the Hon. Charles Maynard, who is charged with the overall responsibility for CARIFESTA. Clearly, our government is nervous about the cost of hosting, given these uncertain economic times, but I believe that if we indeed follow your advice we could remove some of that uncertainty now.
Take good care, and thanks again.
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