FRONT PORCH BY SIMON

A mid-July story in this journal reported: “A cabinet minister yesterday signalled her opposition to Nassau Cruise Port’s plans to develop a $35m water park attraction as she urged it to ‘give it a rest’.

“Glenys Hanna martin, speaking in her capacity as Englerston’s mP, indicated her concerns that the new amenity will further distract cruise passengers from venturing beyond Prince George Wharf when in Nassau and thus deprive Bahamian retailers, restaurants, tour operators and straw vendors of much-needed business.”

Mrs Hanna martin has been consistent in her concern over government decisions which overwhelmingly benefit the cruise industry and related interests at the great expense of a variety of small businesses.

Along with many others, she was alarmed at the reversal of the Progressive liberal Party’s disagreement while in Opposition to the egregious decision to grant Royal Caribbean a 17-acre private enclave on Paradise island, adjacent to downtown Nassau.

The pool or water park, however described, will be a deterrent to increasing the flow of disembarking cruise passengers moving beyond the Cruise Port area into the broader economy of New Providence.

The Cruise Port is a public-public partnership, which will now explicitly compete with mostly small private businesses for the business of cruise passengers.

Many passengers no longer disembark at Nassau for a variety of reasons. The water park will likely serve to keep cruise passengers within the confines of the Port, further siphoning receipts from various business operators.

We have mostly failed as a country to improve conditions beyond the Port that would encourage cruise passengers to leave their vessels. moreover, we have allowed many of the cruise lines to take further advantage of our failure.

As a result, Bay Street merchants and operators of small businesses from Junkanoo Beach to Arawak Cay and beyond are receiving far less traffic than they would if more passengers disembarked.

We have now heard from the head of the management of the Cruise Port that 25 percent of cruise passengers do not disembark. Such statistics should be published monthly either by the operators of the Cruise Port or by the government.

The assessment and experience of small business operators and Bay Street shopkeepers suggests that the percentage may be considerably higher. We need clear and detailed numbers on those disembarking.

The government has been celebrating the number of cruise passengers aboard ships. But how many of them actually disembark at Nassau and Freeport? How many of them spend most of their disposable funds at the private enclaves of the cruise lines.

A compelling question: if the number of cruise passengers is so spectacular, why are so many businesses complaining? A recent story in The Nassau Guardian is telling and disturbing.

“Straw vendors are not seeing the cruise ship passengers come into Nassau Straw market, despite seeing them downtown, according to Rebecca Small, president of the Straw Business Persons Society.”

Ms Small observed: “I’m thinking that we are right here in the straw market and wondering, where are these tourists going?”

The story continued: “Speaking in regard to Royal Caribbean’s utopia of the Seas cruise ship, that made an historic stop to Nassau Cruise Port this past Sunday, Small said: ‘You only see the ship there, but you don’t feel it in your pocket.’”

She added: “‘On Wednesday, they said that there were seven ships docked at the Cruise Port, but why can’t we make it in the market? The tourists are coming in, but it’s how many tourists? if an average vendor could make $100, where are these tourists?’.

“‘All the cruise lines know that the straw market is downtown. I’m going to call the director general of tourism to voice my concerns over the lack of promotion of the straw market, and I’m going to tell her that her minister was talking about all of these tourists downtown, and it’s not being reflected in the straw market.

“The vendors are not making it the way they should. We might have two good days, but many days we are struggling.”

We know the number of visitors arriving by air that deplane in Freeport and Nassau. The corresponding number for each cruise ship should be provided quite readily.

Last year, 4.5 million visits arrived in the Port of Nassau aboard cruise ships. The Family islands showed 6.5 million cruise passenger visits, two million more. All of these Family island passengers arrive at the private islands of cruise lines.

There is a difference between cruise visits and cruise passengers. The former counts the number

of visits passengers make to multiple islands in the country. The latter counts the number of passengers arriving at the first port of entry.

It is clear that cruise ship itineraries increasingly call for visits to their private islands before a visit to either Nassau or Freeport.

These itineraries allow their passengers to enjoy the beaches, waters, shopping, and other landside amenities before their arrival in Nassau and Freeport, thereby further reducing passengers’ interest in the landside offerings of our two major population centers.

Many of the new itineraries allow ships to call only their private islands before returning to Florida. Yet, those passengers are included in our official visitor arrival numbers. We keep conflating numbers at our peril.

We now hear that 5.5 million cruise passengers will arrive at the Prince George dock this year. What Bahamians want to know is what this year’s number will be for cruise passenger visits to the private islands in The Bahamas. Will it be eight million or more?

When the ministry of Tourism touts the increased expenditure of cruise passengers in Family islands, they appear to forget that nearly all of that expenditure goes into the coffers of the cruise lines and not into the economy of The Bahamas. The average cruise passenger spend in our real economy is therefore much lower than we are told.

If the government and the operators of the Nassau Cruise Port are interested in increasing disembarkation and cruise visitor spending, they would request that cruise ships remain in port in Nassau until midnight and beyond as they once did.

This would enable an expansion of the experiences that passengers may enjoy on land in our two largest population centers.

Contrary to a recent editorial in one of the dailies, Minister Hanna Martin is clearly focused on what is in the best interest of the operators of small businesses in The Bahamas and the obligations of the Bahamas Government under any private public partnership.

She is not engaged in unconvincing commentary geared toward certain special and conflicting interests who are deeply involved in the Port and an array of businesses.

When Minister Hanna martin sounded the alarm when the government approved the Royal Paradise Club for cruise passengers across from the Nassau Cruise Port dock on Paradise island, the same management of the Port voiced its support for the Paradise island enclave.

They seem to be more in league with the interests and bottom lines of the cruise lines and far less concerned about the public side of their private public management agreement that should benefit the broader economy of The Bahamas.

There are far too many in government who are giddy celebrating the number of cruise passengers aboard ships while not recognising that cruise lines are doing all that they can to use the assets of The Bahamas to the near sole benefit of their shareholders and to the detriment of the Bahamian economy.

Other than Minister Hanna Martin – who is seeking to maximise the income of the operators of small business in The Bahamas that rely on tourism for their income – who are the advocates in the current government for the proverbial “small man” or businessperson?

It is unlikely that Sir lynden Pindling or Arthur Hanna or Hubert Ingraham would have allowed the establishment of a private cruise enclave on Paradise island thereby reducing the flow of spending for straw vendors, taxi drivers and vendors from Junkanoo Beach to the restaurants of the Arawak Cay Fish Fry.

It is also unlikely that these leaders would approve a public-private partnership that would allow cruise passengers to be confined to a water park on Prince George dock further reducing the flow of cruise passengers available for the wares and services of small business entrepreneurs.

Mrs Hanna Martin’s plea, “Give it a rest”, is a matter of economic and social justice. But it is even more. It is a plea for structural change and an industrial strategy that would significantly boost our tourism and general economy beyond the private interests of cruise lines and certain entitled and wealthy business interests who continue to increase their wealth at the expense of many Bahamians and the Public Treasury.