The Welcome Centre, serving as festive museum for cruise-ship passengers, will officially open on March 28 but manager Vernita Carey is concerned about “tourist harassment” by workers near the building.
“We don’t want to find that cruise passengers are not willing to come off the ships in the numbers that they used to. What is the point of getting tourists here if half of them remain onboard?” asked Ms Carey of the building located at Prince George Wharf.
Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe announced the centre’s opening during a recent session of the House of Assembly.
The project, with a price tag of $98,000, began under the leadership of the Free National Movement government.
The centre is expected to be an essential part of the tourism industry because the majority of the country’s tourists come by cruise ships and The Bahamas has the world’s third-largest cruise-ship registry.
There have been numerous postponements of the opening because the building it still incomplete.
Ms Carey said in the past an independent vendor was “soliciting and harassing” tourists boarding their cruise ships with a beer bottle in his back pocket. Vendors like that man, she said, will not be tenants in the centre.
“It needs cleaning up. As the tourists come off their ships, these guys jump in front of them trying to sell their beads and bracelets or what not, and they’re intimidating them. We are going to be very, very strict. We will not tolerate it,” Ms Carey said.
Several months ago, the ministry gave application forms to people interested in one of the 24 tenant spaces available at the centre.
Ms Carey noted that the ministry’s main concern is that there is a cross section of tenants and that they offer “authentically Bahamian” crafts. Those crafts will include paintings and other art, Bahamian-made products, food and entertainment.
“As the application states,” she said, “while we do appreciate that some of the raw material may not be authentically Bahamian, we do expect at least 60 per cent of their products to be.”
Ms Carey said every Bahamian will have a shot at promoting their talent, even those not selected as tenants in the centre’s market place.
“What we would like to do is, because it is a small craft market, on busy ship days to have tents set up outside to allow additional vendors to come out here. So, obviously the opportunity exists,” she said, particularly since The Bahamas has to “step up a notch” if it wants to maintain competition with Caribbean countries.
The Welcome Centre, at about 34,000 square feet in size, will be a festive place, she said, primarily for cruise ships tourists, but also for tourists staying in hotels.
A post office is also expected to be in the centre, particularly to provide a service to cruise ships passengers who buy crafts or art, but are unable to carry them aboard. The service will be able to ship those items anywhere in the world.
Security was a major concern, but Ms Carey said that “tight” security will be in place to secure the main entrance and protect the occupants.
“The International Maritime Organisation has just issued new guidelines in terms of the security to make sure the building is secured and that our staff is trained in anticipation of the opening. There will be security cameras installed.”
The centre will also include an information and tour desk. Place behind the desk will be a screen 59 feet long and 15 feet wide that will showcase different islands and scenery of The Bahamas.
However, when the centre opens next month, the blueprinted Junkanoo Expo will not. The Ministry has not decided what would be in the section, other than Junkanoo paraphernalia and crafts.
By Khashan Poitier, The Nassau Guardian
