While cruise arrivals to St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) is growing “very quickly”, cruise passengers spend three times as much in other destinations as they do in SVG.
CEO of the Port Authority, Carl James, identified this as an area of concern during the State of the Tourism Industry Conference in Kingstown.
The revelation comes even as the country prepares to open a new EC$700 million cargo port in Kingstown in October.
James said the cruise industry was growing so quickly that the Port Authority has had to contend with double bookings.
“And with the new port that’s being constructed, I’ve already gotten phone calls inquiring whether or not we would accommodate some of these mega cruise ships that take more than 6,000 persons…”
He pointed out that the Oxford Economics Report on cruise activity shows cruise growth in the Caribbean outpacing the Mediterranean.
“… in terms of vessel deployment, we have a lot more vessels assigned to be deployed to the Caribbean,” James said.
“… if you are a cruise passenger, you come to St. Vincent and your spend is, let’s say, $60 …, other countries are making $160, $190.
“Two cruise ships coming to Kingstown simultaneously, they’re going to say, ‘Well, this might be a challenge, because we do not have enough taxis, we do not have enough tours.’”
James said he sees these as opportunities for SVG. “… if two ships want to come simultaneously and asking for more things, we can deliver that,” he said.
“If we are currently capturing $59 per passenger and other countries are doing 190, it says we could do 350% better. These are the kind of conversations we need to have and strategise on to not just grow and expand the cruise industry in terms of the visitor arrival, but in terms of revenue capture.”
Change the ‘call a shot’, ‘eat ah food’ mentality
James said that to improve visitor spend, service providers have to be more formal.
“A lot of people like to ‘call a shot’, ‘eat ah food’, and what people need to understand is that, yes, I can have my little taxi van over there, I’m carrying 10 people, I’m making US$700 per day. I feel good. I go home.”
He, however, said people have to appreciate the need to build partnerships so that the cruise lines know that their passengers would not be simply dropped off by someone saying, “Hey, that’s Villa Beach”.
The Port Authority CEO said cruise ships want to know that their passengers will have an experience when they get a specific location.
“It’s a package. It has safety concerns, it has insurance, the whole shebang tied to it,” he said.
“Then the cruise ship might say, ‘Okay, well, I could give you 80 persons per day, 50 persons per day.’ So now we’re looking at economies of scale, you now have a bigger business, you’re creating employment, and you’re now taking home 10, 15,000 US dollars per day, as compared to $800 and feel good.”
He said service providers need to look at their businesses as sustainable and scalable.
“It’s something that you could pass on to your kids, create employment, and, most importantly, create value for the cruise passengers, because when they arrive, and it’s not just drop them by a beach or something, but they have an entire experience.
“They leave feeling cared for. They leave feeling as if they got immersed in our culture. They leave feeling as if they understand and like our country.”
He said that way, the cruise passenger is likely to remember the service provider and return to the country as a stayover visitor.
“So now, instead of making some money one day as a tax operator, you now have hotels making money; you now have persons coming to St. Vincent and booking you for an entire week. You have to look at the entire ecosystem holistically and realise this thing has the opportunity to continuously generate money,” James said.
Cruise line says it about connection between guests, destinations
Speaking on the same panel, Abigail Crossley, director of Strategic Sourcing OBR at Carnival Corporation, said that truly memorable travel experiences involve connections between the guests, the destinations they visit, and the communities that welcome them.
She said this belief is at the heart of Carnival Corporation’s strategy, which drives the approach of partnerships across the whole travel ecosystem.
“So, with communities, what we’ve done is developed a model of engagement, and that goes beyond the transactional relationship,” she said, adding that the company’s brands work closely with regional destination management.
This includes Port Authority, local businesses and community leaders.
“And what we want to understand is how we’re perceived and how we’re performing as a port call and how we can improve. This isn’t just logistics. It’s about listening and learning co-creating experiences that reflect local culture.”
Crossley said this has worked successfully in Norway, the Baltics, and in Jamaica.
“Now, when it comes to immersive experiences, we’re also looking at going beyond the obvious,” she said.
Crossley said that thanks to local tourism boards and associations operating fun trips, innovation workshops and regular updates, her company has been able to discover and support small businesses and experiences that may be off the beaten tourism track.
I ain’t blaming a soul for wanting to “eat a food” because for most months of the year, they are parked “hungry.” The people are simply making hay whilst the sun shines!