ANTIGUA & BARBUDA: Cost Of Excursions Hinders Growth In Cruise Tourism

The cost to cruise passengers to tour Antigua & Barbuda is the country’s biggest hindrance in attracting more weekly anchor drops in our ports.

President of the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association’s (FCCA), Michele Paige said land excursions in Antigua are the costliest in the region, with more cruise visitors opting out on offers for organized tours. “These tours are sold onboard. But, the tour operators have to get insurance. We require they have to have their guides trained as required by the cruise industry, and we make money by what they sell onboard. They (tours operators) don’t have control of their product, because they have the transportation portion funneled out,” she said.

Paige was speaking at the FCCA Operations Committee meeting on Tuesday night to discuss the state of affairs in the cruise industry.

She said there are two rules cruise lines adhere to when selecting new destinations – where people want to go and where cruise lines can make the most money.

The FCCA president said the high cost for island tours makes it difficult for the country and the region to attract more cruise ships.

Paige said in the 1970s, the Caribbean dominated the cruise tourism sector, attracting 60 per cent of the market, but, with ships calling at ports in China, Australia, Asia and Europe, travellers are exploring their options and seeing more of the world for their money.

“We have gone down to 36 per cent. We are posting 23 million cruise passengers, but, we have to realise our competition is global,” Paige said.

“A (Caribbean Tourism Organisation) CTO study says the Caribbean’s ability to stimulate the required demand will be directly dependent upon its capacity to refresh and reinvent its tourism economy, by effectively adopting to the ever changing global environment, pushing the envelope, taking risks and launching innovations which will consistently deliver on changing consumer expectations.”

Meanwhile, Associate Vice President Government Relations Latin America and the Caribbean, Royal Caribbean Cruise Limited, Federico Gonzalez-Denton said within the next five years the cruise industry will add new ships to the fleet, and the destinations must be able to meet the needs of the expected abundance of visitors.

“Each ship has an average cost of $1 billion, we are making huge investment bringing new ships, new venues, new attractions and making the whole experience exciting for our guests. We are all doing it Royal, Norwegian and at a very high and risky cost,” Gonzalez-Denton added.

He noted the country will only be able to entice these new ship if it upgrades, improves on its product offerings and create new attractions.