Barbados all for summer cruise industry

Barbados is all for a summer cruise industry in the Caribbean.

So says Minister of Tourism and International Transport, Kerrie Symmonds, who said the idea is not a farfetched one, as it had been previously floated at the level of the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association but was not developed.

He was responding to a question from the media during a virtual press conference yesterday, about the possibility of cruise vessels also coming to the Caribbean during the summer months, as one of the positive spinoffs of Barbados offering safe harbour to several cruise vessels during the ongoing global pandemic.

“We have come to a point where Barbados frankly has been and continues to be a safe harbour for a number of cruise ships which simply have been refused entry across the Caribbean, and quite frankly also in several other parts of the world. As recently as a few days ago a ship would have left the vicinity of Fort Lauderdale in order to come here, in order to have crew repatriated to other parts of the world, simply because there was no berthing being accommodated in that neck of the woods,” he said.

The Tourism and International Transport Minister said that this turn of events represents an opportunity that the country can take advantage of. He said now is the opportune time to perhaps have discussions with the relevant authorities on the region’s ability to be a year round destination.

“The opportunity that it creates, is for us to sit now with people who recognise the sincerity of Barbados first of all, who recognise the commitment of this country to be faithful to principles of development and to cooperation, and to sit with them and let us put our case to them. The Caribbean is no less an attractive destination than the Mediterranean. The reason why ships come here in winter time, in proportions which are almost too large for us to manage, is largely because they see the Caribbean as a warm weather getaway for Europeans and so on. But we are open 24 hours a day, 12 months a year,” he contended.

With that in mind, Symmonds said when the cruise industry recommences, it is important that we make it clear that the Mediterranean is not the only place to go during summer.

“There is a real possibility of very attractive itineraries being created and placing Barbados at the centrepiece, if for no other reason than we are the country in the Eastern Caribbean that does the homeporting, and we have access to almost every major gateway. But the reality is, we want to be able to say that in concert with the environmental uniqueness and attractiveness of a Dominica; in concert with the attractiveness of a Martinique; in concert with the attractiveness of parts of the Dutch Caribbean – Aruba and Curacao etc.; you can get many cultural experiences, many environmental experiences and having Barbados at the centrepiece of that. And all we have to do therefore is to shape the cruise itinerary,” he stated.

Symmonds went further saying that a Southern Cruise Alliance would be an easy thing to create, and if pursued could provide a level of variation to the theme of a family cruise getaway.
He said it is definitely an excellent opportunity to pursue and could assist in the needed transformation of the tourism industry. To that end, he stated that it is an idea the newly established Tourism Recovery Task Force will be looking into.
(JRT)