Cruising a tourism goldmine for TT

Recognising that the cruising is the most exciting and fastest growing segment of the travel industry throughout the world today, TT participated in the highly prestigious Florida Caribbean Cruise Association Conference and Trade Show in Puerto Rico which took place from September 26 to 30, the Ministry of Tourism said. Permanent secretary Vidiah Ramkhelawan, led a small high-powered team to the Seatrade Conference that included Simone Medina, the Ministry’s director of research and Planning (ag); Greer Assam, TDC’s cruise sector specialist; Charles Carvalho, a leading port agent for several cruisers; and other representatives from the TT Port authority.

The team had several face-to-face meetings with cruise line executives, strengthened ties with other southern Caribbean destinations and learnt from other tourism destinations’ innovative bench marketing practices, said a media release from the ministry. Trinidad and Tobago experienced growth in the 2015/2016 cruise season and the ministry said it is intensifying the drive to grow the cruise tourism niche market by focusing on the following initiatives: Increasing and diversifying the variety of on-shore activities and tours available for cruise passengers; both in and beyond the city of Port-of-Spain.

Statistics show very positive results - 7,000 passengers participated in prebooked excursions, while another 3,000 enjoyed the free line tours for the 2015/2016 cruise season. upgrading and enhancing existing facilities to make the product more interesting and attractive. aggressively training workers throughout the tourism sector to ensure a quality product and services Maintaining and enhancing relationship with key tourism industry partners Wining more calls from Carnival Cruise Line, which first visited Tobago earlier this year as part of its longer “Carnival Journeys” programme.

The ministry said it would continue to communicate with cruise partners to make destination Trinidad and Tobago the most attractive in the region. “We are increasingly seeking to deliver hassle-free and high ‘value-for-money’ experiences to discerning customers,” the release said. For the upcoming 2016/2017, the Ministry of tourism said that among other ship calls, it will welcome back MSC Cruises, an on-board ship educational experience with over 650 students, and from December to March, MSC Poesia, with a passenger capacity of 3,000 and a crew complement of 800, will call on seven-night cruises from Guadeloupe. In the 2017/18 season, AIDA Cruises is due to return after a three-year gap.