“It’s very embarrassing to have persons coming to a beach like Josiah’s Bay — which is a very popular beach — and you don’t have facilities,” Penn explained at a recent meeting in his Eighth District constituency.

Penn said the issue at the beach was of concern not just for tourists, but also for local residents who use the bathroom facility.

“We have a concern in the Josiah’s Bay area where there has been a facility there for some time and now it is being used for storage,” he stated.

The Opposition Leader explained that he had a meeting with the Minister for Natural Resources & Labour, Vincent Wheatley, back in 2019 to look at ways of making the facility functional for persons who visit the beach.

However, he said nothing has materialised since then.

“We had a temporary facility before, it was discontinued but I have expressed to the minister the desire to get that facility up and running,” he stated.

No details yet on how bubble will be done in Eighth District

The issue comes against the backdrop of a resumption of cruise tourism locally. The first cruise call to the territory is expected in the coming weeks.

But Penn said the relevant authorities, so far, have not informed him of the final details on how this will take place in his district.

“We’re hearing discussions that we’re now moving back to allowing cruise ships to the territory, what that would look like – I know that the Tourist Board has been charged with a responsibility to come up with a bubble plan to be able to facilitate the beaches where the cruise tourism persons go typically,” he said.

“We haven’t finalised anything. I haven’t gotten a final word from the team at the [Tourist Board] – the Director and the other team – but we’re waiting to see what the final decision would be and how that bubble arrangement would be,” he explained.