According to usually reliable reports, they are so determined not to have this tax imposed that they even telephoned a Caribbean prime minister while he was in hospital, to dissuade him from supporting the levy.
So far Antigua and St. Lucia, two increasingly popular cruise ship destinations, have indicated they will not agree to the implementation to the levy.
Given the intense pressure which cruise liners reportedly have been applying on other Caribbean governments and tourism stakeholders, it would not be surprising if other countries in the region also reject the imposition of the tax which is supposed to be placed in a special fund to finance tourism programmes and improve the region’s competitiveness.
This, to my mind, would be enormously imprudent; not to mention that it would expose the divisions and insularity which continue to threaten and undermine the much vaunted regional integration process.
Mr. Obie Wilchcombe, The Bahamas� Minister of Tourism and chairman of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) succinctly captured the essence of, and logic behind, the tax when he recently stated that every stakeholder either in the Caribbean or operating to the region is a potential beneficiary of this process.
That there would be opposition or division among Caribbean governments over this tax is astounding.
The cruise line officials� opposition to the levy tax, their scare tactics, empty pretensions and vain posturing, suggest that in their dealings with the Caribbean they are operating with an unsophisticated, colonialist mentality.
Their thinking seems rooted in the premise that Caribbean countries are here to serve metropolitan needs and that the islands exist primarily to provide a market for them to extract wealth and repatriate the profits, while they contribute precious little to the region�s development.
Mega-ships are being built at a rapid rate and they will place additional strain on existing small and fragile and resources and facilities in the Caribbean.
Countries in the region therefore have to make intelligent, proactive decisions to cater to this and other developments, to ensure their infrastructures are not overwhelmed and to secure the long-term viability of their respective tourism industries.
For many years cruise lines have been operating throughout the Caribbean making premium profits, but their reinvestment in regional tourism development has been remarkably disproportionate to their earnings.
They cannot in good conscience expect Caribbean governments to continue providing them with facilities of great sophistication and exquisite luxury, while they do not contribute in any significant form to initiatives that will ultimately redound to the benefit of cruise lines and passengers.
More fundamentally, while nothing is wrong with discussing the issue, the decision about whether or not to impose a head tax is, I submit, not within the province of cruise line officials.
If the United States government had imposed some form of tax on cruise ships, I doubt you would have heard a whimper from the cruise line officials.
Airlines all over the world are imposing taxes in excess of US$20 on tickets. The US Government now charges US$100 as an administrative fee for a visitor�s visa. Those who wish to travel can complain about these fees but the reality is that they must comply.
That is why the statement by the cruise liners that the US$20 tax will cause them to lose passengers should be dismissed as absolute gibberish.
A cruise, even with the additional tax, will still be one of the cheapest forms of vacations around. The levy will hardly be a deterrent.
The threat by the same cruise ships to divert their vessels to Alaska instead of the Caribbean to protest the tax is an empty and ridiculously absurd bluff.
Even if this is done, as their profits start to sink, in very short order they will come steaming back to the Caribbean.
Regional governments and high level tourism officials should therefore take a principled stand by closing ranks and imposing the cruise ship levy.
It would be a sad day in Caribbean affairs if people and decision makers allow themselves to fall victim to such savage form of economic terrorism as cruise liners are seeking to inflict on the region.
Tourism is the lifeblood of the Caribbean and on a matter that so important to us all, we should never capitulate to the machinations of those in the cruise line industry who continue to demonstrate a cold and calculated insensitivity to the economies and development of the region.
United we stand, divided we fall.
By Hayden Boyce
Letter to the Editor, The Nassau Guardian
