BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - FOLLOWING several complaints made by popular tour operator, Michael ‘Big Banana’ Bridgewater, about the continued solicitation of passengers on Port Zante by unauthorized individuals, the St. Kitts Tourism Authority says it would be investigating the claim.
Bridgewater, in a recent SKNVibes interview, complained that he and other tour operators are displeased with the way several translators are plying their trade on the Port.
He claimed that for many weeks, dating back to last year, a number of them have encroached on the arrival section of Port Zante to solicit cruise passengers, depriving those left to toe the line for legitimate business.
This was confirmed to be an illegal act by the Tourism Authority’s Public Relations Office Saju N’Gala, who informed that tourism officials have been clamping down on such activity over the years. He also noted that they have received no recent formal reports about illegal solicitation.
He confessed however that “we do have a number of challenges on Port Zante… The St. Kitts Tourism Authority always looks at infractions seriously and works along with the police to ensure that everybody operates equally”.
Bridgewater contends that illegal solicitation - pointing to those from the Dominican Republic - has given an unfair advantage to those operators for whom they work.
The operations on Port Zante have been a very challenging area for the Ministry of Tourism and the St. Kitts Tourism Authority over the years.
This comes as the Federation continues to receive mixed reviews from cruise passengers complaining about a number of difficulties they have encountered, specifically solicitation from store owners or their staff.
Late 2015 and early last year, Minister Lindsay Grant - and his Tourism Ministry – has clamped down on store owners and employees who were soliciting tourists by shouting across the Port.
That did not sit well with several of them, but they were all made to toe the line.
According to the PRO, the St. Kitts Tourism Authority and its counterparts at the Ministry of Tourism are actively working to improve the situation on that Port, “making it equitable”.
Further, N’Gala said that they are currently in the process of ensuring that all stakeholders plying their trade on Port Zante are operating within the stipulated rules and regulations, as proper customer service is priority.
“Those who chose to ignore the rules and operate on their own, the St. Kitts Tourism Authority along with the Ministry of Tourism would pursue all legal avenues to ensure that everybody is in line.”
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