Caribbean tourism debate turns ugly for cruise
Monday, 11 May, 2010
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The cruise industry has come under fire for “decimating” some Caribbean islands.
The attack came from Jonathan B. Tourtellot, of the National Geographic Traveller and father of the concept of geotourism.
He opened CTO Caribbean Sustainable Tourism conference in Barbados with a keynote speech extolled the virtues of a “sense of place”.
“When you are on vacation can you tell where you are? And if you can’t the destination has almost certainly failed its sustainability test?”
Examples were also given of Caribbean islands that have been decimated by the ‘cruise’ culture.
Tourtellot declared himself “nervous when the ship is bigger than the island”.
Cruise dollars, seemingly so important to the Caribbean economy, were exposed as not forming part of a “smart” long term strategy. The dollar advantage of cruise visitors was 15 times less than other holidaymakers.
Under questioning from TravelMole, he agreed that “it needs strong government to resist the overtures of some cruise lines and, indeed, hotel groups”.
Minister Hadyn Hughes of Anguilla agreed with the sentiment and said: “We have over the years said "No" in a big way to cruise and to a large Jamaican-based hotel group.
“You only have to look at St Maarten to see the decimation an over reliance on cruise can bring and we want no part of it.
“Low volume and high value with an emphasis on our totally unique tourism offering which in turn helps our economy and our population.”
In a paper entitled ‘Beyond Green’, Tourtellot spoke in passionate and wide ranging terms about the benefits for all of ensuring that all aspects of a destination are taken into account in any measure of sustainability – to measure environmental effects is important but not enough.
The ability to retain food, language, music, topography and a sense of the place are all vital ingredients in a truly sustainable destination, he argued.
The talk was backed up by statistics that suggested that more than half of the travelling population preferred “unspoilt” destinations; and certainly those with the purchasing power.
*Also watch conference video coverage on TravelMoleTV.
Phil Davies
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