By FAY SIMMONS

Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

A Grand Bahama eco-tourism operator is optimistic a partnership with Carnival’s Celebration Key will change the “slow” bookings pace.

Alfredo Bridgewater, owner of CocoNutz Cruisers, said his company has secured a partnership with Carnival Cruise Lines to offer electronic bicycle tours to guests at its newly-opened $600m private port destination on Grand Bahama.

He added that, due to Celebration Key’s opening this weekend, Grand Bahama is trending online and moving to the forefront of potential visitors’ minds. “The last few months have been slow, but we’re in the process of working with Carnival. So we’re just a little late and the summer is looking a lot better,” said Mr Bridgewater.

“We are scheduled to be one of the excursions offered directly by Carnival. So that’s a really good thing for us. I think the whole Celebration Key project is highlighting Grand Bahama. We’re trending right now with Celebration Key.

“So even if guests aren’t coming through the cruise ship, Grand Bahama is still trending. We are on the forefront of visitors’ minds, and they may come and decide to be a stopover visitor and stay in the hotel.”

Mr Bridgewater added that although not all Grand Bahama residents will benefit directly from employment or partnerships with Celebration Key, the project will help to stimulate Grand Bahama’s economy by providing residents with more access to capital and visitor spending.

“They’re going to bring in money. So even if you’re not working directly with the cruise ship there will be benefits. You have people that are employed now. Those people are paying rent, able to pay their cable bills, light bills, all that stuff,” he said.

“They’ll be looking for entertainment. When they get off from work they may go to bars and restaurants. They will support the economy in that way. The property itself will have access to more capital within the Grand Bahama community, and that would have a spillover effect into other businesses.”

Mr Bridgewater said his partnership with Carnival was made possible due to his membership in the National Eco-Tour Operators Co-operative (NETO), which pools the resources of individual entrepreneurs to help the liability insurance demanded by the cruise lines.

Rudy Sawyer, NETO’s president, said the co-operative currently has nine members working with Celebration Key and others working with Disney’s Lighthouse Point and MSC’s Ocean Cay. He explained that cruise lines usually require at least $2m in public liability insurance, which can cost small tour operators up to $15,000 per year - an expense that previously impeded their entry into the market.

NETO allows these small operators to pool resources and obtain coverage for $2,000 to $3,500 annually.

“We found that there was this big hurdle... that if we wanted our tours to be sold on the cruise ships, they all required that all the vendors have public liability insurance. The amount of cover must be $2m. For small operators, in particular, it’s an expensive insurance to have,” said Mr Sawyer.

“At $2m most small operators will pay between $8,000 and $15,000 per year, which is obviously beyond the point of being affordable. We saw the opportunity for us to be able to get this burden or this hurdle from in front of us by sharing the cost of the insurance, making this affordable and having these small operators in the market be able to function and be competitive.

“This insurance, which would have been between $8,000 to $15,000, most of our members pay between $2,000 and $3,500 for it.” Mr Sawyer said all NETO members must offer tours in heritage and culture, and have a projected annual revenue of less than $300,000.