The Ministry of Tourism will be taking steps to ensure that taxicab drivers are compensated for the loss suffered on Tuesday, when a tour company was allowed to transport 400 cruise-ship passengers from the Prince George Wharf even though it had failed to gain proper authorisation to do so.
Minister of Tourism, Obie Wilchcombe made the announcement on Wednesday in the House of Assembly during his contribution to the 2003/2004 budget debate.
“The Ministry of Tourism will today take responsibility for that tour to the extent that we will talk with the tour operators and the tour operators will sit with the Ministry to ensure that the taxi drivers are compensated for that incident because it is not suppose to happen,” he said.
“The Ministry of Tourism took full responsibility and we will in those circumstances move as quickly as we can because we can not afford to have 400 visitors come to our shores and return to the cruise vessel with this view of The Bahamas. We don’t want that. That has hurt us in the past and we are not going to allow that to continue,” Minister Wilchcombe added.
It is believed that the Ministry of Transport will also be a part of that meeting.
For a short while on Tuesday evening angry taxi-cab drivers blocked the exits at Prince George Wharf protesting a fleet of tour buses attempting to transport about 400 cruise ship passengers from the Explorer of the Seas to various destinations.
The incident occurred sometime after 7 p.m. when 21 Bahamas Experience vehicles sub-contracted by Destination Management Company arrived at the Wharf to transport the visitors to pre-arranged locations.
The tax-cab drivers argued that the tour operators were in violation of the protocol governing transport of large groups.
Reportedly, the tour company did not request the proper authorisation and as a result the conflict started because the proper protocols were not followed.
Speaking on the issue, Road Traffic Comptroller Brensil Rolle said, “If there is a pre-arranged movement, the Department will be notified 24 hours in advance and the appropriate approval would be issued to that organisation and the union who represents the taxi cab drivers would be advised. In this case, we were not advised and of course, no one else could have been advised.”
Minister Wilchcombe admitted that the arranged tour had not been posted and the company did not live up to a very important aspect of regulations.
He explained that the group of 400 visitors had come for a short period of time. He said they were scheduled to have dinner on Paradise Island and other places in New Providence.
“Clearly the regulation was breached,” Minister Wilchcombe said. “The Ministry of Tourism cannot afford to have the visitors inconvenienced.”
He said the Ministry was told that the cost of the trip per passenger to be between $4 and $5 and not the $50 and $70 that was reported in Wednesday’s edition of the Guardian.
On a point of order, Montagu MP, Brent Symonette, said the tour company must have known ahead of time that what they did was not in accordance with the agreement.
He asked: “Is the Ministry just going to say to the tour company pay up or are there going to be any other sanctions to make sure that this type of situation does not arise again?”
Noting that it is a Ministry of Transport issue, Minister said, “One of the difficulties is people, companies, organisations continue to breach regulations and are not penalised for it. So it will not stay there.”
He stressed that Transport Minister, Glenys Hanna-Martin, will address the matter during her contribution.
Minister Hanna-Martin noted however that what happened was an “extremely serious matter.”
By Keva Lightbourne, The Nassau Guardian
