While St. Vincent and the Grenadines is a popular destination among cruise companies and passengers, much infrastructure work is needed to turn this appetite for the island into economic revenue.
During a recent visit to the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association Conference, Minister of Tourism Carlos James reported that a number of port itinerary managers for cruise lines were thrilled to learn that St. Vincent and the Grenadines intend to expand their cruise terminal by releasing space to accommodate the expansion.
“We could have accommodated additional cruise lines, but our capacity to do so remains a challenge. I only wish to emphasise that. “Therefore, if there are individuals who object to the financing of a new port in Kingstown, please understand that the expansion in terms of our harbour, both our cruise and cargo ports, must go ahead in order to have more robust commercial activity and more cruise call activity,” James said.
The estimates, according to James, indicate that St. Vincent and the Grenadines is way ahead of where it was expected to be in terms of tourism recovery, particularly cruise tourism.
The tourism minister noted, “While we may be experiencing a record year in terms of arrivals, for which we all worked closely with the cruise line to achieve, we are up 44% in terms of passengers and 28% in terms of cruise calls.”
James stated that when other islands are attracting half a million or one million cruise guests in terms of passenger arrivals, St. Vincent and the Grenadines have the potential to attain such numbers, but larger cruise port facilities are required.