Tourism Minister says as many as 850 000 cruise passengers could be in Barbados

There is good news for entrepreneurs who depend on the cruise ship industry to make their living. The sector is expected to not only bounce back this winter season but return to pre-COVID-19 levels.

Minister of Tourism and International Transport Senator Lisa Cummins announced on Monday that following a bleak summer period, close to 400 cruise ships carrying more than 700 000 passengers are expected to dock in Bridgetown between November this year and April 2023.

During a presentation on the state of the island’s tourism industry at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Grand Cayman, on day one of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) and International Air Transport Association conference, she said this would augur well for many small business owners who were significantly affected by the bummer summer period.

“We are expecting to have a total over the course of the year of 390 vessel calls, taking us up to 739 557 passengers. We expect that number [passengers] will increase as the winter season is expected to be extended by an additional month . . . . The expectation is that with climate change and Europe remaining colder for longer, the ships are finding that potentially they will stay in the Caribbean for at least another month and the expectation is that we could hit at least 850 000 passengers by the end of the cruise season,” Minister Cummins said.

On August 15, during the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association’s quarterly media briefing, interim chief executive officer Geoffrey Roach said the association was concerned about the fortunes of tour operators as there were no calls to Barbados during the summer period.

However, Cummins said the active winter period was even better than 2019 levels.

“If we were to compare that to our regular pre-COVID-19 levels, 2019 was a banner year. The average for Barbados is 880 000; we were on target in 2020, when we stopped sailing, to hit 900 000 passengers so we are estimating that, using 2019 numbers, we are going to hit over 90 per cent of the target and we are back to levels prior to 2019, which is the standard for 2018.”

The Tourism Minister also announced that the Caymanian Ritz Carlton Yacht Collections would be making Barbados its homeport for the

winter season with 20 sailings to Bridgetown, adding that the MSC Seaside, Seabourn Ovation, and Evrima would be docking here as well.

She said this was a great opportunity for craftsmen and women who work in Pelican Village to cash in on the active winter season, noting that water sports operators, beach vendors, and those who operate in The City should be able to benefit.

Senator Cummins said the tourism services were developed into a single cooperative model that allowed for the benefits of the cruise industry to be distributed to large players and small operators equally.

Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. (BTMI) Shelly Williams, who is also a member of the delegation from Barbados in Grand Cayman, said her agency was working with taxi operators, especially those based at the port, to provide training and develop an incentive programme to enhance their earnings from the cruise ship industry.

“We know that the bigger players already have big contracts with cruise liners so we had to find a way to get them [taxi operators] to have more business,” she said.

“What the BTMI proposes to do is to partner with the port taxis and . . . if they want to have specialty curated tours designed for the crew, we will offset that cost for them, pay them to bring the crew and take the crew around. Why? The crew can then go back on the ship and talk about Barbados – where to go and what to do. So then we have ambassadors on the ship.”

Williams said it was anticipated this would be a lucrative investment for the taxi operators and would give them a chance to go neck and neck with the large tour operators.

sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb