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Cruise Tourism: Up and down

With a steady influx of cruise ships for the last two weeks, many tour guides and taxi drivers have a lot about which to smile, temporarily as it might be.

During those two weeks, the cruise ship terminal has been abuzz with tourists, thirsting to see more of the country where the Walt Disney movie Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed.

Added to the fact that the star actor Johnny Depp fell so much in love with this country, that he tattooed St Vincent and the Grenadines on his arm, makes the visitors all the more curious.

Noll Patterson, who is the Land Tour Coordinator for Corea and Company 1998 Ltd which is the largest cruise ship agent on the island, confirmed that, although there has been a decline this year in the number of ships, the past two weeks have been very busy. She further pointed out that busy periods were also experienced in the months of October and December.

Patterson, however, noted that although there have been several cruise ships recently, the number of persons buying inland tours from her Company has declined. She believes that this may be because of the financial crisis.

She however keeps an optimistic view and said, “We are still keeping heads above water. There has been an increase in the P&O ships; however Grand Princess which used to come in twice per month now only visits once per month. Despite everything, the tour guides have been busy and we are still grateful.”

Patterson also praised the efforts of the Ministry of Tourism for the works done to the improved sites but noted that the Falls of Baleine is off their list because of a rock fall.

Taxi drivers

Taxi drivers interacting with tourists who had just left the P&O cruise ship that visited last Wednesday.Inset: Angus Martin, President of the Taxi Drivers Association, obviously hopes for more visits by cruise ships.
Meanwhile, President of the SVG Taxi Drivers Association, Angus Martin, is pleased that things are picking up, and said that from his end, the transporters are on top of their game.

Martin, who has been head of the organization since 2003, said that they have some 80 members who are properly uniformed, indicating his Association’s regard of how critical their dress code and conduct are to the tourism industry. He noted that his taxi member workers are challenged because they have “to re-educate” the visitors about St Vincent and the Grenadines because “they are sometimes misinformed.”

He expounded, “We are the ambassadors of SVG, so we do our best to get the information right; but wrong information just complicates things. We welcome the cruise liners, because it is a boost, but we would like to see more ships coming to the country. We plead with the cruise agents responsible to do more so that cruise ships can come in at least once a week. When things are good in the cruise industry, the taxi drivers get to pay their bills, money will be circulated and the tourists get to see a spectacular destination.”

source of article and photo:
by Sheron Garraway
The Vincentian
12/02/2010
www.thevincentian.com