Foreshadowing a continued decline in the local excursions sector if foreign cruise lines are allowed to continue providing excursions to their privately-owned islands, a group of operators has called upon the Ministry of Tourism and other government officials to intervene on their behalf to help safeguard their livelihood.
According to the Bahamas Association of Shore Excursionists (BASE), while the international cruise industry has amassed large profits in recent years local operators have experienced a “drastic” decline in their business levels and profits.
“During our recent meeting we indicated that we observed a disturbing trend that began in the early 80’s with Norwegian Cruise Line taking their passengers to a private island,” BASE said in a letter to tourism director general Vernice Walkine dated January 12, 2006.
“This situation has now manifested in Bahamian-owned excursions being cannibalised by the cruise industry. This trend, if allowed to continue, will have a crippling effect and will deal the ultimate deathblow to a substantive sector of our Bahamian economy.”
BASE officials said an examination of their statistics and research into the excursion itineraries of visiting cruise lines showed a “definitive correlation” between members’ decline in sales and the introduction of excursions by foreign cruise lines to their private islands.
“This find is not surprising as many of these excursions mimic those currently offered in the ports of Nassau and Grand Bahama,” the association claimed.
“In addition, many of these private islands are visited before our economic centres, therefore, visitor dollars are released on the peripherals of our economy instead of directly to it. Passengers also participate in many ﾑBahamian experiencesﾒ on these islands before they get to our main ports of call, effectively rendering many of our excursions redundant.”
In an interview with The Bahama Journal, Ms. Walkine said the Ministry of Tourism is aware of the concern by Bahamian excursion operators, and added that the situation is a “very urgent matter which the Ministry will treat as such.”
She also indicated that Ministry officials plan to discuss the local operatorsﾒ concerns with the foreign cruise lines as the parties move forward in their relationship.
According to Ms. Walkine, the Ministry aims to hold talks with cruise linesﾒ representatives in the near future, but she could not specify exactly when.
BASE officials, meanwhile, emphasised concern that the local excursions industry is not being reserved for Bahamians and as a result is not contributing to the national economy to the full extent of its potential.
“Government statistics indicate that in 2005 3.7 million passengers visited The Bahamas via the cruise industry, but some 46 percent either called solely on a private island or included a private island in their cruise itinerary,” the associationﾒs letter continued.
“This means that approximately 1.85 million passengers visiting our Bahamian waters missed the opportunity to contribute to our economy, or did so only on a marginal basis. Therefore, we must carefully examine the intended benefits of these private island operations to the local economy.”
In their letter – copies of which were also sent to the ministers of tourism, transport and aviation, financial services and investments, the Minister of State for Finance, the permanent secretaries in the ministries of tourism, finance, and transport and aviation, and other public and private sector stakeholders in the tourism industry ﾖ BASE officials cited the falloff in business experienced by a number of member companies.
According to BASE, between 1998 and 2004 the Bahamas Taxi Cab Unionﾒs revenue fell by about 34 percent, while Nassau Cruises Limitedﾒs revenue was down by 40 percent.
The associationﾒs letter indicated that customer participation at Blackbeardﾒs Cay Beach Day declined from a high of 23,366 in 2003 to 14,469 in November 2005.
The shore excursions association also said the number of persons working in the local excursions sector decreased by 32 percent between 1998 and 2005, falling off from a high of 548 to 369.
BASE officials are scheduled to meet again on Thursday.
By: Darrin Culmer, The Bahama Journal
