Contributed
Prime Minister of The Bahamas, Hubert Ingraham, addressing delegates at the opening ceremony of 'Caribbean Marketplace', at the Atlantis, Paradise Island, Nassau, Bahamas, on Sunday night.

Janet Silvera, Senior Tourism Writer

Nassau, Bahamas:

Absent from the CARICOM heads of government agenda for decades, tourism is to make its way into the inner circle, new chair of CARICOM, Prime Minister of Bahamas, Hubert Ingraham, has promised.

Obviously concerned with the issues affecting Caribbean tourism at this time, the Bahamian prime minister told delegates attending the Caribbean Hotel Association Caribbean Marketplace at Paradise Island, Nassau, Bahamas, last week, that he will place the lifeblood industry on the front burner during the next heads of government meeting in March.

Noting that the region was faced with the challenge of remaining competitive as a destination of choice for the reduced number of United States offshore travellers who, he said, will no doubt in 2008, more than ever, be focused on obtaining value for their shrinking dollars, Prime Minister Ingraham directed his attention to the cruise industry, which has become a major competitor to land-based destination vacations.

Cruise tourism

"And now that the cruise industry has won an advantage over land-based resorts in our region, because of the United States passport requirement for its citizens returning home and on December 26, 2007, President George Bush signed off on a further delay, extending their advantage," Ingraham stated.

For years, the region's heads of government have been criticised by tourism stakeholders for not helping to level the playing field between land-based and cruise-line operators. Cruise-ship companies are not required to pay anything near the amount of tax land-based operators face, and research shows, that cruise lines, such as Carnival, take as much profit as two thirds of the price of a tour, depending on the attraction, while the operators are left with one third.

It is also no secret that land-based operators bear higher operating costs and limited flexibility to vary costs, in comparison to the cruise lines that are able to offer near-unbeatable all-inclusive, air, meals and entertainment vacations.

Accordingly, the CARICOM chairman admits that the Caribbean must come to terms with cruise tourism, "because it is a critical and essential element of our tourism product."

In the meantime, he has sounded an urgent call to hoteliers to ensure their hotels are equipped with amenities demanded and expected by visitors.

Chairman of the Caribbean Hotel Association, Berthia Parle, has welcomed Ingraham's enthusiasm and believes there is no better captain to steer the CARICOM ship at this time.

"He is probably the most qualified chair on tourism because he comes from a destination where the proof of the pudding is in the eating," Parle said, adding that if anyone could take tourism to that next level, it was Hubert Ingraham.