By JADE RUSSELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

jrussell@tribunemedia.net

VETERAN trade unionist and entertainer Freddie Munnings Jr believes The Bahamas cannot benefit from record visitor arrivals unless attractions are developed beyond the Nassau Cruise Port, resorts, and cruise line-owned private islands.

His call was echoed by Trade Union Congress (TUC) president Obie Ferguson, who said the country lacks even a proper nightclub for tourists and questioned what Tourism Minister Chester Cooper is doing to boost the sector.

Both men criticised the direction of the tourism industry, arguing that many Bahamians see little financial return from the millions of visitors now arriving in the country.

“They talk about the numbers of visitors we bring, but they all pent up at the port,” Mr Munnings said during a press conference on Monday hosted by the TUC and the Bahamas Taxicab Union (BTCU) at the BCPOU Hall. “Eighty percent of them don’t even get off the ship, I’m told. Those who do get off the ship, they spend less than $100, so how is that benefiting you?”

He urged officials to develop attractions in outlying communities so taxi drivers have more destinations to offer visitors, accusing policymakers of being “confused” about what experiences should define the country’s main industry. If tourists remain on cruise ships or at the port, he said, drivers lose vital income.

Cruise companies, meanwhile, continue to expand their private enclaves, from Royal Caribbean’s Perfect Day at CocoCay to Disney’s Castaway Cay and Carnival’s Celebration Key.

Mr Munnings also pressed taxi drivers to broaden their services and think bigger. “You should own these ship liners to take people into islands around The Bahamas. You should own helicopters. You are in the transportation business,” he said.

Mr Ferguson described drivers as “intelligent” people at the heart of the economy, questioning how they are benefitting if the industry is supposedly booming. “We got our Minister of Tourism. I don’t know what he’s doing,” he said.

Mr Cooper did not respond to requests for comment up to press time.