The Royal Caribbean’s Sovereign of the Seas will charter the Christian crusade organised by the Alabama-based PraiseFest Ministries, which is a volunteer evangelistic organisation.
“When the ship reaches Grand Bahama Island, PraiseFest will host a stadium crusade called Bahama Fest 2006 featuring top Christian musicians and speakers. Bahama Fest 2006 has been sanctioned by The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism and is expected to be the largest event the island has ever seen. We will be able to hold organised assemblies in all 33 schools on the island sharing the Gospel with over 14,000 students,” said PraiseFest Ministries President Matthew Dunaway in a press release from Royal Caribbean.
The Ministry of Tourism revealed last year that it was stepping up its promotion of group travel, targeting religious groups, among others, from 2005 and beyond.
James Malcolm, who was appointed as the Executive Director of Group Travel last year, told the Nassau Guardian in an earlier interview, “We’re going to be communicating through select advertisers and sales and marketing communication tools and web tools to get to the decision makers and the meeting planners and let them know that we have reorganised and refocused the group travel environment in The Bahamas.”
With a new tax break for group travel in effect since January, tourism officials are confident that more groups would be attracted to host events in The Bahamas. This provision is included in Article 5 of the Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA), under the heading Convention Tax Treatment and “allows U.S. taxpayers, including corporations, to deduct costs incurred for attendance at conventions held in The Bahamas in the same way they are currently allowed to deduct for conventions held in the United States”.
Cruise with a Cause intends to give its travellers “a family vacation experience with a faith-based opportunity”. According to the press release, Honnie Korngold, President of Christian Travel Finder said, “We are thrilled to be able to offer this cruise to travel agents to sell on a commissionable basis. There have been many Christian cruise charters in the past but very few have been available for travel agents to offer their clients.
“We are receiving such a positive response from agents that have wanted to offer faith-based niche products but haven’t been able to previously. This cruise embodies the type of vacation experience that many Christians are hungry for.”
The cruise would be in The Bahamas for four nights and departs from Port Canaveral, Florida on May 29 en route to Grand Bahama and Coco Cay, a private island owned by Royal Caribbean.
The cruise would also feature entertainment onboard by contemporary Christian music artists.
By: BARRY WILLIAMS – Business Reporter, The Nassau Guardian
