NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Deputy Prime Minister Chester Cooper asserted that the government is actively addressing the need to ensure greater cruise passenger spending, noting that while there are more entrepreneurs answering the call, “we need more.”
The Bahamas leads the Caribbean and Central America with an annual $655 million economic boost from the cruise industry, despite ranking in the bottom 40 percent on visitor satisfaction metrics. According to the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA), the Bahamas ranks first for total passenger spending and local employment, supporting 13,846 jobs with a $250.16 million annual wage bill reliant on the sector. Direct spending by cruise lines in the Bahamas is the highest among 33 surveyed countries, totaling $160.2 million annually.
However, the FCCA study reveals weaknesses and untapped potential, noting that nearly 20 percent of cruise visitors and 70 percent of crew members never leave the ship, resulting in missed spending opportunities for local businesses. Additionally, per capita spending has declined since 2018, with passenger spending falling by 8 percent and crew spending dropping by 21 percent.
Despite an increase in total cruise passenger spending from $322.57 million in 2018 to $473.32 million this year—driven by higher visitor arrivals—the decline in per capita spending underscores the reliance on volume in the Bahamas’ cruise tourism market.
DPM Cooper said that while he had not seen the report and would endeavor to read it, it was not new news.
“It’s not new news that we have been encouraging more and more of our passengers to come off the ship and support local vendors. We have several active initiatives through the Tourism Development Corporation to create new tours and experiences to craft new opportunities for cruise passengers to come onshore,” said Cooper.
He continued: “The next thing I would say is we have been fully engaged to encourage even greater spending. We believe that once we create more opportunities, and more things for our guests to do, they will spend more time onshore, and I believe we will see an actual uptick in the overall average spend. We have gone further and supported a company called Street Smart 242; it’s a technology-driven entity. It’s an app that talks a lot about things to do and see in The Bahamas.
“We have gone even further in deploying a smart city initiative. It’s going to be able to give people free or low-cost Wi-Fi in the downtown area. This is going to allow them to be able to interact in the local marketplace. They are going to be able to access opportunities, and in real time vendors downtown will be able to make offerings to them.”
Cooper noted that the TDC is actively looking to see how the country’s tourism product could be enhanced, encourage more of the guests to spend more, and come off the ship. Cooper noted that this has been a decades-old issue.
“We are doing something about it. I have always said consistently that one of the biggest complaints of our guests is that there is not enough to do. Whilst we do our part, we are calling for entrepreneurs to appreciate and invest in downtown Nassau, to create more restaurants, more entertainment opportunities, more tours, and you have the backing of the agencies of government.
“We are seeing some progress in terms of new entrepreneurs. We are getting applications for grants, and people are answering the call, but we need more. We are receiving upwards of 30,000 passengers per day,” said Cooper.
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