BASETTERRE, St. Kitts – POPULAR tour operator and owner of Big Banana Safari Tours Michael ‘Michael-B’ Bridgewater is unhappy at the way a number of tour operators are plying their trade on Port Zante.
Bridgewater, who is a certified taxi operator, is claiming that several tour operators would use their certified drivers to solicit customers, which he deemed as unfair. He lamented that it is “frustrating” since he claimed to have made several complaints to the tourism authority which has fallen on deaf ears.
This, Bridgewater said, all started at the beginning of the tourist season, stressing that this paints a negative picture for tourism in St Kitts.
“About four weeks now I have been going into the Tourism Department to try and have the taxi drivers with taxi license to stay in their vehicles. It’s something out here on the tarmac that the person who comes off the boat should be talking to the owners which are the certified taxi drivers.”
“I complained to the management, Melissa Marshall, and she continue to pay it no mind for all these weeks I have been asking her. Maybe she is busy but I don’t find when I call to the office to tell her I have a problem she telling me oh she not available and when she ask me to come at this time she is still not available’. When I’m policing to make this product a better product I would need the assistance of the authorities,” he explained
Speaking with SKNVibes, Communications Officer at the Tourism Authority Saju Ng’alla stated that such an incident of solicitation could be deemed an offense and should be reported to the police authority.
He related that any matter which entails breaking of the law is a matter for the police to handle since the Tourism Authority does not have the power to arrest any individual who may flout those laws.
“Our job at the St. Kitts Tourism Authority is to ensure that we promote our tourism product and also to develop it so that we all benefit even those who are working indirectly or directly like the taxi operators, the vendors, the hair braiders… We make sure that standards are in place so that everybody benefit...That’s important. We are not about limiting people’s income, it’s not about trying to stop you… it’s about developing it and making it better and enhancing it.”
SKNVibes made contact with the Police Force’s Press and Public Relations Officer, Inspector Lyndon David, who explained that it is illegal for persons to practice solicitation as it is a major concern for the tourist.
“In the first place, if they do not have the relevant license, they are committing an offence and if they are soliciting they are committing another offence... whether its soliciting or not if they don’t have the relevant license to operate the particular vehicle it’s an offense…If you’re not a tour operator and if you do not have a license to operate as a tour operator, taxi operator, you should not be soliciting or you should not be seeking business from persons whether local or foreigner.”
