Barbados will see an uptick in cruise calls for the 2024/2025 winter season, reaching a total of 398, it was disclosed on Wednesday.
During a brief ceremony to welcome Oceania Nautica’s inaugural call at the Bridgetown Port, Chief Product Development Officer at the Barbados Tourism Marketing Incorporated (BTMI), Marsha Alleyne expressed satisfaction at seeing the cruise industry thriving.
She said the cruise ships will bring a total of 698 580 passengers, “an astounding amount”.
“I am very pleased, as we know that this will assist in ensuring that the economy of Barbados from a tourism perspective rebounds,” Alleyne said.
“This represents a really remarkable growth in our cruise industry, and it represents an additional four cruise calls for this season. And, of course, we know from an economic perspective, this certainly will ensure that there’s economic wealth throughout our cruise season,” she added.
The BTMI official highlighted the impact of these cruise visits on the island, specifically for taxi operators and entrepreneurs.
“There is enough for our attractions, our taxi operators who definitely benefit from these increased cruise calls, and also our entrepreneurs as well. So we are very happy with what we see is a significant increase from a cruise perspective in the tourism sector,” she said. “And we continue to lobby for increased cruise passengers.”
Oceania Nautica’s Captain Sasa Milosavljevic was excited about the visit to Barbados: “We hope it’s one of the many calls and we will be coming back in Barbados very often.”
The ship docked here with 624 passengers and 396 crew members on board.
Nautica’s current cruise is a 36-day journey from Montreal to Miami which began on October 28 and ends on December 3. (LG)
