BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, Jan. 02. 18 – SEVERAL tour operators on Port Zante are unhappy with what they deem as “favouritism” being shown to one operator.
That popular company is said to have persons on the port soliciting passengers, who are not certified to operate in that location.
SKNVibes has learnt that the problem has been ongoing for a number of months.
One of the operators up in arms, is Michael ‘Big Banana’ Bridgewater, was told by the Tourism Authority that he could not have his translators nor drivers on dock.
Resulting from that notice, the popular operator indicated that he got rid of eight of his buses early in 2017.
“But now, they have a company with some green and white coaster buses from East Basseterre, on the dock every day taking jobs from drivers who are certified. The guys them that are on the dock are not certified,” he noted.
Several complaints were made to the Tourism Authority, but the problem persists, Bridgewater noted, adding that complaints were also made to the Ministry of Tourism.
The company at the center of the problem already has two complaints lodged against them, Bridgewater told SKNVibes News, pointing out that one of the solicitors was suspended from plying his trade on the port.
“Now when I find out from the police officer on the port, he said oh we suspend them for a week. Now they back on the Port doing the same thing…What I am saying is the Tourism Department needs to look into it, and if the rules govern me, it should govern the companies as well.”
Going further, he claimed that several of the drivers working on the port operate without any proper taxi licenses.
“One of the guys that is Spanish that working for the company is part of the police force -he is a special constable - and everyday a boat is in is either he switches hours or something, to come out here and hamper taxi drivers.”
In an invited comment about operations on Port Zante with reporters, Tourism Minister, Hon. Lindsay grant, acknowledged that there are challenges at that location, but noted that “it is a work in progress”.
“Well you know, Port Zante is still a work in progress. It never ends at Port Zante, always a work in progress. And so, we fine tune and, we fine tune and we fine tune; and we change things to make the experience better.
“I can’t say that it is the best that it can be, because there is lots of room for improvement, but we try on a daily basis, on a weekly basis.”
Grant noted that for 2018, people would see an improvement in service from all on Port Zante.
