Transcript CRUISE TOURISM IN THE AMERICAS

CRUISE TOURISM
IN THE AMERICAS
BENOIT BARDOUILLE
 The
Caribbean represents roughly
46% of the Cruise Market and that
is a significant share of the global
market. All the major cruise lines
operate within the wider Caribbean
Region.
Increasingly larger vessels are being
built and deployed to service our
destinations
 An enormous responsibility is placed in
the management of the various Ports
with
scarce
resources
to
expand/refurbish
their
existing
facilities at the expense of improving
Cargo facilities to accommodate mega
ships.


There is the need to be proactive in this
growing cruise market within our
regions by exploring more skilful ways
of conducting business with the cruise
fines :
1. Securing more long-term contracts
with the cruise lines, so the
facilities being developed or built
become more viable or “bankable”
projects.
2. Develop among our regions itineraries
that would determine what Ports of call
these ships would serve, be it in the
Western Caribbean, South Eastern
Caribbean or South American regions,
as opposed to letting the Cruise lines tell
us what ports they think they can fit in
their itineraries
3.
The need to create a wider Caribbean
Village Concept by including many
more of the Americas into our
programs or outreach to the cruise
lines. Some of the cruisers and
vacationers are potential customers
and are constantly looking for new
places to visit.
4. In the area of Port Security many of
the ports have spent large sums of
money to ensure that they were ISPS
compliant for July, 2004, and
especially in those Ports where cruise
passengers visit because of the increase
risk.
5. There is need for an effective cruise
conversion programme so that a
better
partnership
can
be
established between the Hotel or
land vessel operators and the cruise
operators.
6. Within the region we need to look at the
sourcing aspect or supplying products
and services to cruise ships and the need
to develop a framework to become an
active participant in providing the
required resources on board ships.
7.
Another area to which much attention
is not given is that of employment onboard ships, especially in the
hospitality sector. If more employment
is provided on-board theses cruise ships
by people from the region, the
experience gained could benefit some of
the land base facilities, given the
knowledge and skills acquired on
board these ships.
THANK YOU