St Vincent and the Grenadines has recorded one of its best cruise seasons (2023 to 2024) as preliminary data for the period January to December 2023 shows a 120 per cent increase in cruise visitors to the Caribbean destination.
Minister of Tourism Carlos James revealed this during a State of the Tourism 2024 Address.
The minister says SVG has never seen 377 calls listed on the roster for one season, with the previous year recording 314 calls. The 120 per cent increase in cruise visitor arrivals means there were 138,337 more visitors to St Vincent and the Grenadines by cruise than the previous year.
“In comparison to 2019 to 2020, which serves as the benchmark pre-pandemic year, St Vincent and the Grenadines has now surpassed its pre-pandemic numbers by 1.3 per cent, so we have recovered and moving beyond our pre-pandemic numbers,” states James.
The tourism minister says the evidence is there as during the months of January to March 2024, when looking at the cruise schedule, almost every single day there’s a cruise ship to destination St Vincent and the Grenadines.
James says while the country experiences this increase in cruise calls and projected visitor arrivals, St Vincent and the Grenadines’ current cruise sector has outgrown its existing physical infrastructure and transportation services, which includes land and marine tours.
He gave an example of how they have outgrown the Cruiseship Terminal space, where cruise agents on occasions had to cancel bookings because SVG does not have enough berthing facilities to accommodate more than two ships at a time at Port Kingstown.
The tourism minister says it clearly shows there’s a demand and the country must now provide the infrastructure support to accommodate cruise lines.
To resolve these challenges, the government will embark on the construction of a modern cruise terminal within a few years after the completion of the modern commercial cargo port.
The tourism ministry has already spearheaded the implementation of the taxi incentive policy which now allows frequent concessions on brand new vehicles for all taxi operators and a scaled concession on rates for vehicles up to six years.
In 2024, the State will work with the taxi association and the financial institutions to ensure that there is accessibility to financing, to upgrade the fleet of vehicles within the tourism sector.
