By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

More than 99.4 percent of existing and potential Harbour Island visitors have made it “crystal clear cruise tourism is a disaster waiting to happen” for the destination, a hotelier warned yesterday.

Benjamin Simmons, proprietor of The Other Side and Ocean View properties, told Tribune Business an online survey he conducted to gauge reaction to Crystal Cruises’ using Briland as a weekly port-of-call found just eight percent of the 1,430 respondents were “likely or very likely to come back if cruise tourism expands and continues at this destination”.

He added that, based on the results he shared with this newspaper, some 97 percent of those surveyed were unlikely to buy a house or invest in the island if it became a cruise destination. And the same percentage said any form of cruise tourism was “undesirable”.

Responding to assertions by Crystal Cruises executives that their passengers are “a match made in heaven”, given that they have an average net worth of over $1m, travel regularly and have a higher average spend than traditional cruise customers, Mr Simmons said the Genting-owned company appeared to have done little research into how its plans might affect Harbour Island’s existing tourism model.

Asserting that his survey showed cruise tourism is “repulsive” to Briland’s traditional tourism business, he added: “These visitors are the backbone of not only the economic success of the island but employment of many residing in Eleuthera and Spanish Wells as well.

“Based on my survey the average Harbour Island visitor spends over $18,000 per trip, spending money on shops, grocery stores, restaurants, tours and excursions over the course of on average seven to eight-night stay. This doesn’t even exclude special event/wedding expenditures, which was the second largest contributor to the island’s economy.

“Over 50 percent of the visitors have been coming for more than a decade. Forty percent do multiple trips per year. They don’t rely on social media or even travel magazines to choose their destination - most came based on a friend’s recommendations to do so. Their reasons for coming primarily are local relations, uncrowded beach and the fact that there is no mass tourism products on the island,” Mr Simmons continued.

“Not only does their spending dwarf cruise line passengers’ by 100 to one, but over 60 percent supported a local charity, donating on average $7,688 per respondent and cumulatively have donated over $5.7m over the course of their stays on island.”

Suggesting that spending by Crystal Cruises’ passengers will be “peanuts it comparison to the existing client base”, Mr Simmons argued that Harbour Island was under further cruise tourism threats.

“Meanwhile, somewhat beneath the radar, two other cruise operators are already planning sailings,” he said. “Ritz-Carlton and Sea Dream are aiming for trips in January and April 2022. Crystal is already eyeing summer again of 2022.

“This is a disaster waiting to happen with substantial negative ramifications for the GDP of The Bahamas if the reaction to this form cruise tourism is born out as per my survey. The drop in Out Island consumer spending would dwarf any positive gains Crystal or other cruise lines would contribute to GDP.

“Over 80 percent of the growth in tourism spending is driven by Out Island operations; not cruises. A drop in consumer spending in reaction to Crystal in Harbour Island alone would negate the cruises’ entire contribution to the national economy. I only hope the powers that be can read the writing on the wall.”