Janet Silvera, Senior Tourism Writer

WESTERN BUREAU:

The recently formed National Cruise Council of Jamaica (NCCJ) says it has no intention to rest on its laurels while cruise lines shift business from the region to the Mediterranean and South America.

"The ships have demonstrated that where they have a vested interest, there has been tremendous growth," said NCCJ interim president, John Byles.

Byles' comments come in the wake of an estimated 38 per cent fallout in cruise arrivals for the tourism capital, Montego Bay, in 2009/2010 and a smaller drop for the cruise capital town of Ocho Rios.

"You are going to find the winters peak more and the summers are drier. It will be how much of that business that we get and how much we lose," said Byles, who heads a group of mainly attraction operators, which includes River Raft Limited's Johnny Gourzong and Margaritaville Caribbean's Ian Dear.

Critical mass

"Besides the fact that cruise shipping is 50 per cent of the island's tourism business, cruise passengers have a higher propensity to spend, and are critical mass required for attractions and restaurants," Byles argued.

As a result, not only does his team want to be given the same lobbying power as hotels, its first order of business is to ensure the expansion of existing port facilities.

Outside of the Port of Falmouth, which is under construction to facilitate the Genesis of the Sea in 2009, the major challenge is ports' inability to accommodate modern megaliners.

Private sector/government partnership is what is needed, Byles pointed out, adding that the group had already met with the Port Authority of Jamaica, which is on track with attracting investment by cruise lines.

He is, however, concerned that Montego Bay cannot currently attract the business needed to make it competitive.

"We need a marquee attraction in MoBay because we need to develop independent appeal of this market," he told The Gleaner, adding that there was also a thrust to support the identification of freelance areas in each of the ports.

"Those are the areas that people walk up and down freely, that is Main Street, Ocho Rios and the Hip Strip, Gloucester Avenue, without being harassed," he explained.