Tourism minister vows solution to big buses muscling out cabbies

Long-held frustration by taxi drivers over losing market share of cruise visitors to large tour bus companies has reached the Minister of Tourism through a viral video, prompting the Government’s strongest expression of solidarity with drivers stationed at the Bridgetown Port.

Senator Lisa Cummins has frowned on apparent attempts from some visiting cruise ships to cut out ‘small’ taxi operators by prohibiting their passengers from patronising them while encouraging island tours with their much larger bus tours.

Over the weekend, a taxi operator at the Bridgetown Port vented about the decision that has been cutting into their profits during a viral video on social media.

“I am sitting here in a vehicle at our seaport, the Bridgetown Port, where we normally wait for guests to come off of the ship. We take them to the beach, on a tour of the island, wherever they need to go,” the woman explained in a TikTok video.

“Now we got word, it started yesterday. Some people came off and were telling us the ship is telling them that if they get off, they can’t get back on the ship, they can’t walk around on the island, stuff like that.”

The upset taxi operator noted that while in some other Caribbean territories, tourists are not allowed to traverse freely due to COVID-19 restrictions.

“But they are telling them here in Barbados, ‘you need to book an excursion with the big company buses’, otherwise you can’t leave the port,” she said.

“Yesterday and today people have been here and didn’t get a job all day, came back today and it’s the same s__t. But yet over 20 buses from Foster and Ince left the Port filled to capacity from people on the same ship. Mind you, when you book the tour on the ship, it is far more expensive, more than twice the amount we would charge for a much better tour and they are not allowing us to get any work. “Don’t you think that that is total wickedness?”

On Monday, Senator Cummins suggested that the regulations may have been implemented to reduce the spread of COVID-19by controlling passenger movement in the country.

She also argued that the vaccination rate among taxi operators is high and they are just as safe as their ‘big bus’ competitors.

Senator Cummins said: “While we understand that cruise ships, because they are transiting sometimes four countries in seven days don’t want to either import the virus into the country because they are moving from so many countries, or they don’t want to take it back on board the ship, we are also of the view that it is within the capacity of our taxi operators to have the kind of supervision that is required by the ship to meet their public health requirements.

“So this is something that affects not just a single category, but the entire domestic economy and certainly, it is a commitment of the Ministry of Tourism to ensure that in partnership with the cruise lines, we can find a solution.”

The tourism minister acknowledged that cruise ship passengers snubbing businesses has been a long-standing concern that numerous agencies have been seeking to address.

“The Bridgetown Port, in collaboration with the Bridgetown Tourism Marketing Inc., and the ministry teams have been working collectively on a mechanism that allows for the small taxi operators in particular to have a business model that allows their own tours, through the Bridgetown Alive tours that were developed by the Ministry of Tourism and the BTMI to be able to be offered on board the ships,” said Senator Cummins.

She also gave assurances that Government was focused on building an inclusive industry where all players can benefit.

“The Government of Barbados is committed to ensuring that there is an inclusive approach to the tourism sector whether it is in air or it is sea,” said Senator Cummins. “We want to ensure that those 40,000 workers directly and those 35,000 workers indirectly in all segments of the market have an opportunity to benefit and to regain their lives and their livelihoods as a direct consequence of the work that we are doing. It is for nought if we are able to bring all of these passengers and they fill hotel rooms, but they’re not able to have authentic local experiences that benefit not only them but us in a real and in a meaningful way.”

kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb