Cruise ship tourism - possible economy booster
Kaieteur News
January 14, 2007
Plans to have tourists visit Guyana for Cricket World Cup (CWC) or anytime in the near future via cruise ships have been placed on the shelf indefinitely.
This is according to an informed source who revealed that Government's attempt to use the seaport entry to boost the tourism drive during CWC has proven to be near impossible.
According to reports reaching Kaieteur News, efforts to investigate the possibility of accommodating giant cruise liners at the existing wharfs are currently impractical given the shallow depth of the local rivers. It has been determined, too, that while smaller vessels could be used, the economical viability would not be optimum.
However, several Caribbean territories will be able to take optimum advantage of Cruise tourism during CWC slated for March.
Cruise ship tourism has been making remarkable economical impressions in many Caribbean countries and is quickly becoming the fastest growing facet of the tourism industry. Cruise ship tourism is said to have started in North America and has recorded an eight per cent annual growth since 1980.
According to research, in 1998 about 23 cruise ships carried almost 10 million tourists around the Caribbean with more than 50 per cent of all cruises being dedicated to US-Caribbean operations. The biggest units operating in the Caribbean today have a carrying capacity of 5,000 people, including crew.
Cruise tour records in the Caribbean show that some ports of call in the Caribbean have about 15,000 tourists arriving on a daily basis, suggesting a likely social and economical impact on the respective destinations.
However, this venture is not without its own challenges since there have been several controversial debates on the economic impact cruise lines make to the Caribbean .
According to one writer, there are conflicting statistics which reveal major leakages of spending, especially of duty free goods and a generally low contribution to the overall income generated by tourism in the Caribbean .
The writer speculates that the extent of the interlocking of interests between cruise ships and local businesses at the expense of local small businesses is at the heart of the debate about the cruise ship's economic contribution to the region.
Another crucial, negative effect is the impact of tourism on the environment and the perspectives for more sustainable developments in tourism destinations which however, is greatly contrasted by the positive impacts which include employment and income at tourism destinations.
The venture nonetheless permits the destination to be a supplier of tourism-related products and also to have related businesses worldwide, thus affording economical viability.
As such, the fact remains that tourism destinations as well as the tourism industry depend on natural environment quality and also on a positive economical and social environment surrounding the tourism centres.
However, awareness is rising regarding the fact that the positive impacts of tourism can only be fostered for the future if the negative effects of tourism on ecological, economical and social environments can be limited significantly.
Given the fact that cruise ship tourism has its potential to boost the economy with constant annual growth rates generating about 12 per cent of the global GDP and nearly 200 million jobs, Guyana cannot afford to not attempt the venture, one official said.
Earnings from international tourism in 1997 were some US$443 billion and are expected to reach US$ 2 trillion in 2020, a cruise ship tourism report suggests.
But given the major benefits and the looming challenges that surround cruise ship tourism, the official close to the sector said that in order for Guyana to dive into such a venture, much more efforts will have to focus on its feasibility here.
The need for consultation will become imperative since the venture is relatively new to Guyana which has to be complemented by the preparation of docking facilities if a slice of the economy boosting venture is to be had, the official said.