Bartlett
Janet Silvera, Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
A MULTI-MILLION dollar deal which guarantees Jamaica 2.5 million cruise ship passengers from 2004 to 2008 has been criticised by the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party as being disadvantageuous to Jamaica's best interests.
Opposition Spokesman on Tourism, Edmund Bartlett, says the contract between the Port Authority of Jamaica (PAJ) and Carnival Cruise Lines as too generous to the overseas company.
On Thursday the PAJ and Carnival Corporation signed a contract which will guarantee the island 2.5 million cruise ship passengers from the Carnival group over the period 2004-2008. Carnival, a global cruise company and one of the largest vacation companies in the world guarantees Jamaica, a minimum of 500,000 passengers per annum.
The agreement establishes a fixed per passenger fee each year of the contract, with each passenger currently paying US$7.50 "user fee" or "facility fee" formerly referred to as a "head tax".
But Mr. Bartlett said, "The deal while offering some stability in terms of certitude of arrivals of cruise ship passengers into Jamaica, does not offer the kind of earning which the industry is capable of attracting."
He said he could not decipher the PAJ's current take on the basis of Carnival guaranteeing 500,000 passengers, when the cruise line already brings in over 400,000 tourists annually.
"Certainly a higher threshold or an increase in the head tax should have been negotiated."
Concurrent with the September 11, 2001 U.S. attacks and the turmoil in the Middle East and South East Asia many of the ships that use to ply in those areas moved to the Caribbean, adding mega-size ships to their inventories.
FINANCING POSSIBLE
Under the agreement, the PAJ is expected to collect minimum passenger fees of US$17.75 million, over the period January 1, 2004 to December 31, 2008.
"This allows us to go to financial institutions and borrow, when we need to expand Ocho Rios and Montego Bay," said William Tatham, PAJ's vice-president of cruise shipping.
He said never before in Jamaica's history, has there been any agreement at this kind with any cruise line guaranteeing this type of quantity.
And he said that the island will earn more money than is estimated, "This is just a minimum, we anticipate that this year, Carnival will deliver 600,000 passengers."
Mr. Tatham believes there are better ways to get more from the cruise lines.
"The areas we believe they should be approached on, are employment of Caribbean nationals, purchasing from our farmers, investment and investing in our attractions."
He said Jamaica is also in the process of signing the same type of agreement with Royal Caribbean Cruises. In 2003, the island saw a record-breaking cruise ship passenger total of 1.1 million.
