BASSETERRE, St. Kitts-EFFECTS of the global financial slump continue to be felt in the tourism sector, and one tour operator in St. Kitts has said the resulting chaos at the cruise ship arrival area in recent months needs to be addressed.
Michael Bridgewater has twenty years of experience in the tourism industry and five years ago opened his business, Big Banana Safari Tours. Since that time he has upgraded his business to include two open-air safari tour busses that seat twenty persons and one standard sixteen person bus.
Despite his success, Bridgewater has said that he is displeased with the way other business owners, particularly taxi drivers, are scrambling to make money at Port Zante in light of the declining tourist dollars.
“I am having a serious problem with the taxi drivers, people at the Tourism Department and other operators that work in the same area as me down at Port Zante. They are getting in a trend now to be cutting the price and telling the tourists that my safaris are not safe,” he informed SKNVibes.
Big Banana Safari Tours typically carries forty visitors on a roughly four hour tour for a price of US $30 per person, which includes free drinks. Bridgewater said that taxi operators have become increasingly desperate to attract guests in recent times and have slashed their prices to US $15 for an island tour.
“I am in a frame of mind that I am really upset, and I can’t make a living,” Bridgewater said.
While the Taxi Stand and arrivals area at Port Zante were originally owned by Government through the Urban Development Corportation, in recent years it has become increasingly privatised and some operators have complained about the lack of restrictions and order in the area.
Bridgewater said that he has seen many operators who are not authorized by the Tourism Authority having their tours sold in the area by associates who receive a commission for each sale. The situation has degraded to the point where he has been yelled at by taxi operators while guests have been waiting nearby.
He says he wants the Tourism Department to have some proper management at the arrival hall as “what is going on now is chaos”.
“The people at the Tourism Department need to stop going with just the people they know…because it is going to mash up the whole thing. Stiff regulation needs to be put in place because this is our livelihood now,” he said.
The issue was raised Tuesday (Feb. 10) on the radio programme “Ask the Prime Minister”, and St. Kitts-Nevis Prime Minister Dr. Hon. Denzil Douglas said that he is aware of the very serious problem.
“I believe that we have had over the last few months a number of issues that need to be settled. There had been ongoing discussions with both the taxi and tour operators with regard to exactly how they are to welcome the visitors who disembark from cruise vessels down at Port Zante.
“I believe that the matter is not yet completely settled. If there is bad behaviour on the part of the taxi operators, I would hope that the dispatchers…are engaged in ensuring that any bad behaviour is brought to an end,” Douglas said.
The Prime Minister asked that all operators at Port Zante carry out their business in a “professional and careful way, making sure that we understand the image of the country must come first”.
He also said that he planned to make a visit to the area sometime in the near future so he could observe for himself any problems that may be taking place and potentially having a negative impact upon the image of St. Kitts-Nevis as a tourist destination.
