A multi-day power outage that stretched from Wednesday into Thursday delivered a sharp blow to Nassau’s key tourism sector, forcing dozens of downtown businesses to close or operate under strained conditions, cutting short tourist visits and causing thousands of dollars in lost revenue for local vendors. The outage impacted heavily trafficked areas including Shirley Street and East Street Hill, a core hub for cruise ship passengers coming ashore to shop and dine. Bahamas Power and Light (BPL), the territory’s main electricity provider, announced that technicians first detected the fault via routine monitoring, but uncovered an unexpected secondary equipment failure while attempting to reroute power through the Arawak Cay substation. Restoration work got underway shortly after noon Thursday, with an initial estimate of five to six hours needed to fully restore service. BPL later updated the public on ongoing progress and issued a formal apology for the widespread disruption. But on the ground, the impacts were felt almost immediately, with visitors and business owners alike grappling with sweltering summer temperatures amid lost air conditioning. A Tribune reporter on site observed tourists browsing dimly lit retail stores, many visibly perspiring in the heat, while retail staff relied on small portable fans to stay cool. For businesses without backup generators, processing card payments became nearly impossible, turning away countless potential sales. Amado, a Royal Caribbean cruise passenger from Florida who has visited The Bahamas roughly five times previously, said the oppressive heat and lost power pushed him to cut his shore excursion short and return to his ship earlier than planned. “We don’t want to explore so much,” he explained. “It’s so hot, you know, uncomfortable.” He added that he had never encountered such widespread service disruptions during past trips, arguing that infrastructure should be reliable enough to accommodate the constant stream of tourists arriving via cruise ships. “There has to be some kind of decency,” he said. “There’s so many tourists over here, all these cruise ships. You should think that you know there will be resources for this.” Jay, another cruise passenger from Michigan, said she was less personally inconvenienced by the outage, but expressed sympathy for local residents who have dealt with repeated power failures across the island. “You guys work hard and deserve it,” she said. Many visitors echoed the frustration, noting the outage directly impacted how much they were willing to spend during their time ashore. One tourist said she wished her cruise line had been aware of the blackout and warned her family before they disembarked. “It’s disappointing because it’s hot and it was already hot getting off the ship,” she said. “We were thinking we were going to be shopping in the cool so it was a big disappointment.” For local business owners, the disruption translated directly to tangible financial losses. At Luryx, a downtown retail store, assistant manager Colebrooke estimated the outage cost the business roughly $5,000 in lost sales. Like many other small vendors in the area, Luryx does not have a backup generator, and only stayed open because a personal power bank kept the store’s wireless credit card terminal operational. “The only thing I would say to BPL is these are modern times and we shouldn’t be living like this,” Colebrooke said. “Our business should not be operating like this.” She emphasized that the damage extends beyond one day of lost sales, noting that the outages leave a negative impression on the thousands of tourists that pass through downtown Nassau daily when cruise ships are in port. “We have cruise ships in the port every day even if it’s just one so could you imagine the impact it is having,” she said. “The tourists are going to talk about it because they’re coming in here asking us what happened.” Employees at local souvenir shops echoed the complaint, noting that lost card access cost them significant commission income, as most tourists do not carry large amounts of cash. “The only way we can only take funds if it’s cash,” one employee said. “It’s a big problem because you know most tourists come with their card. They cost us a lot of money this morning because they have a lot of ships out there that brings us our income.” Some businesses that chose to close early faced additional unexpected costs, with some reporting paying more than $100 to have staff come in to lower security shutters for the day. Multiple businesses also reported damage to their private backup generators during the outage, adding to repair costs. The Taj Mahal Indian Restaurant was one of the establishments forced to close entirely, and staff had to discard all perishable food items to prevent spoilage in the heat. The outage is the latest in a string of service failures for BPL this summer, a period marked by repeated blackouts, scheduled load shedding, and growing anger from both residents and business owners over inconsistent service. BPL has defended its performance, attributing the recent spate of outages to a combination of system-wide faults and excessive demand driven by record high temperatures, including cable failures, overloaded transformers, tripped breakers and feeders, damaged power lines, and higher than usual electricity consumption across the grid.