Bahamas moves to strengthen cruise industry

Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham says the amendments will facilitate entry into new agreements with major cruise lines, and encourage them to maintain and increase their delivery of cruise passengers to the country’s ports of call.

NASSAU, Bahamas, July 2, 2009 – The Bahamas government is to amend the Cruise Ship (Overnight Incentive) Act to strengthen the country’s competitive position in the cruise industry.

Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham says the amendments will facilitate entry into new agreements with major cruise lines, and encourage them to maintain and increase their delivery of cruise passengers to the country’s ports of call.

“My government is also pursuing the strategy of engaging a major strategic cruise line partner, with respect to the development of a new cruise port on Grand Bahama,” Ingraham told the Parliament.

The cruise ship legislation was first enacted in 1995. At that time, cruise visitors to the Bahamas were experiencing a decline of 600,000 visitors. There were 2.1 million cruise visitors in 1992 compared to 1.5 million visitors in 1995.

At that time, hardly any cruise ship stayed in port after 5 pm and that had a severe impact upon small businesses.

“The impact of the enactment of the Cruise Ship (Overnighting) Incentive Act was a dramatic overall increase in cruise arrivals to The Bahamas that propelled us to become the region’s leading destination in both cruise arrivals and cumulative ship hours in domestic ports,” Ingraham said.

Agreements under the Act were entered into with Royal Caribbean Cruises International (RCCL) and Carnival Corporation (CC).

The Bahamian Prime Minister says the intention now is to enter into some new agreements.

In the absence of a valid agreement, RCCL and Carnival Corporation continues to bring business to the Bahamas, while negotiations with the Ministry of Tourism on a new incentive agreement continues.