Street vendors and merchants in most of the islands of the Caribbean depend solely on tourists that come pouring off of the cruise ships for business. It may sound very impressive if I told you that the cruise industry provides $2 billion a year to the Caribbean in revenue. However, a very small percentage of that gigantic number actually stays in the pockets of the locals or even in the country. Leakage in the Caribbean continues to be an issue for many of the island nations. According to skift.com the top three countries that are most dependent upon cruise tourism are St. Kitts and Nevis with 5.9% GDP, Antigua and Barbuda with 4.1% GDP, and Belize with 4.0% GDP. In the past, tourists have not been eager to spend their money at local merchants in port versus on the boat. St. Kitts has implemented some changes in its port to appeal more to tourists. By vamping up its duty-free shopping options and offering a variety of land based tours through out the island, the average amount a tourist will spend is $100. That is more than double what tourists were spending just six years ago. Although the following statistics are a bit dated they can still provide a base to start from and imagine where these numbers are at now. A report published in 2001 by the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association told that cruise related spending created 60,136 jobs for Caribbean residents. Out of all the tourists that visited the Caribbean on a cruise 45.6% of them were from North America. Also, 80% of cruise tourists reported "high degree of satisfaction" with their destination they visited. A little over half, 51.6% of passengers expressed an "interest in returning to the port of call" for a future vacation spent just on the island. Finally an average cruise ship with about 2,000 passengers and 900 crew members can provide approximately $259,000 at a single port of call visit. Despite all of the negatives the industry brings to the islands, I can understand a little better now why islands are even making efforts to become more appealing to ships and have them use their ports. As with everything in the world money talks, makes the world go round, etc. However, this doesn't mean that actions shouldn't be taken to ensure that these islands and its people aren't being exploited. Feel free to check out my info-graphic on environmental and economic impacts of cruise ships in the Caribbean. Sources: http://www.f-cca.com/downloads/carib_impact.pdf http://skift.com/2013/09/25/the-caribbean-islands-most-dependent-on-cruise-business/
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I created this info-graphic in hopes of continuing to raise awareness of the impact that cruise ships are having in the Caribbean Sea and the islands located there in. My hopes are that if anyone reads this info graphic they will answer at least one of the calls to action that I have listed at the bottom. While it may seem like a small step at this point, the consequence of fulfilling any one of these call to action has the potential to affect the situation in the Caribbean in a big way. If each person that read this and visited the Caribbean, intentionally spending $20 more dollars at a local business in port, it would increase the quality of life for multiple locals and their families. Maybe another person doesn't have plans to visit the islands but wants to help raise awareness about this issue and becomes an advocate for stricter environmental laws and policies when it comes to local government's involvement with cruise line companies. Every effort has the potential to better the situation of the people in Caribbean and preserve the unique, breathe-taking nature that is found there. |
AuthorAs a Parks, Recreation, and Tourism student I have decided to create a blog that focuses on the effect that the cruise line industry has on one of its most popular destinations, The Caribbean. I will use this blog to explore both the good and bad that comes from this massive industry. ArchivesCategories |