Tourism Minister Charles Clifford has urged Caribbean countries to come together and lobby support from the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association regarding the United States passport regulation.
The regulation is to affect not only Caribbean stay-over tourism but cruise tourism also.
The new regulation will require US citizens visiting the Caribbean to be in possession of a valid US passport to re-enter the US, effective 1 January, 2006. This will be the case for passengers travelling by air or cruise ship.
A study done for the Caribbean Hotel Association has indicated that US$2.6 billion of visitor export earnings and more than 188,000 travel and tourism jobs could be at risk. The Caribbean Hotel Association is advocating an extension of time for the Caribbean to the same introductory date as Mexico and Canada, 1 January, 2008, to allow the region’s tourism to better prepare.
Mr. Clifford suggested at an historic heads of Government forum Monday at the Caribbean Hotels Industry Conference in Miami that this issue is one that could be taken up with the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association by the region as a whole.
It also poses an opportunity to start up regional talks with the FCCA on other issues, he said. The FCCA could be the Caribbean’s greatest ally on the passport issue as the cruise industry depends heavily on the Caribbean, and without this region it would not be as lucrative, he said.
Commenting that the FCCA carries a lot of clout with the US Government, the Minister said it is time to come together as a region and take action rather than just talking about it.
Mr. Clifford is scheduled to meet with the FCCA in Miami to discuss issues regarding the Royal Watler Cruise Terminal and what the future holds for the previous Government’s West Bay Dock plan along with upgrades that had been planned for Spotts Dock.
Answering another question posed regarding the fact that more than 50 per cent of the world’s cruise ship berths are in the Caribbean, yet there is no unified engagement of the region with the cruise tourism sector to have true partnership for exploiting the region’s resources, Mr. Clifford said the region should embrace the opportunity to engage the cruise industry on a regional level. On this basis the passport issue could be a starting point, he said.
The Minister added that while there is still room for individual agreements, he was sure the FCCA would appreciate the reasoning on the regional approach as the FCCA itself is a coming together and representation of its member cruise lines.
Minister Clifford was greeted with applause and agreement from delegates at the forum for his views expressed.
However, the Minister got the most rousing round of applause following comments he made addressing a question on whether governments are investing enough funds in the marketing and development of travel and tourism to ensure sustainability of the sector’s revenue streams
He said it is incumbent on the tourism ministers of the region to lobby and convince their respective cabinets on the importance of tourism and to make sure it is something that is top of the respective governments’ agendas.
Mr. Clifford also spoke about the issue of airlift to the region in general and its importance to tourism.
He mentioned to delegates the economic impact study that was carried out on Cayman Airways a couple of years ago.
He said its findings showed that CAL generated 12.9 per cent or the equivalent of $230 million to annual GDP.
To put these figures against the annual Government subsidy of $7 million pales in significance to the subsidised figure, he said.
Regional airlines should not be looked at merely in terms of the losses, but in terms of these types of significant gains they can also bring, he said.
The Minister also noted another positive that Cayman Airways has brought to the country – when it goes to new gateways, this alerts foreign carriers to a new market and entices them to take up the same route.
This happened when CAL first started its Atlanta route, after which Delta Airlines followed suit. It also happened on the Chicago route, which United Airlines followed CAL on, and the Houston route was taken up by Continental Airlines after CAL instigated one there.
Minister Clifford commented that all these foreign carriers bring tourists to the destination. He said it was important to take a much broader perspective on national flag carriers and the positives they bring.
Other panellists at the heads of government forum included delegates from Netherlands Antilles, US Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Antigua & Barbuda and Barbados.
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