NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Nassau Cruise Port Chief Executive Officer Mike Maura said yesterday that the government’s plan to change COVID-19 arrival protocols for cruise passengers in alignment with air arrivals will bode well for the country’s cruise arrival performance.
Maura said: “I think that it’s clear that the US travel and leisure market has moved past the pandemic in that all of the commercial airlines traveling throughout the US today domestically no longer require facemasks and aren’t asking for testing or if you’ve been vaccinated. Considering that the US is the largest source market for us here in The Bahamas, the fact that the government determined it was time to align cruise with air will be a good thing to us from a visitor arrival perspective. The fact is that some destinations throughout the Caribbean had already removed testing and in some cases vaccination requirements.”
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism, Aviation and Investment Chester Cooper recently stated The Bahamas plans to align its cruise arrival protocols with air arrival protocols. The Bahamas’ protocol for cruise passengers disembarking in Nassau or a private island was that they had to be fully vaccinated.
Maura noted that Nassau continues to be a strategic location for the cruise industry and predicted that 2023 will also be a strong year for the country’s cruise tourism segment.
“Nassau is a strategic and valuable part of the cruise industry and the industry has invested over $1 billion in travel destinations within The Bahamas. It’s obvious that the industry is as dependent on The Bahamas as The Bahamas is dependent on the industry. I do know that The Bahamas from a passenger count and call perspective has outperformed most of the world in terms of the recovery coming out of the pandemic. I think 2023 will be very strong,” said Maura.
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