Bahamas: Increase in Crime in Water Front Cruise Ship Area … Its all About the Safe Tourist, or Not

The Bahamas is witnessing a rather troubling trend of crime in of all places the water front area where the cruise ships are located. One really has to wonder about many of these island getaways and Caribbean vacation locations where tourism is supposed to be their greatest asset, yet there seems to be little concern to the future of said asset. How does it get to be that the very area where tourists is supposed to congregate becomes the very area where crime does instead? Talk about supply and demand.

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If tourists spots and Caribbean islands actually want tourists to frequent them, would not one think that maybe protecting tourists would be a primary concern? It would almost seem that so many Caribbean tourist locations became complacent and could not be bothered with the risk that they put those in who are their main livelihood. When will locations like the Bahamas understand that is all about the security stupid. Aruba has witnesses that same lesson with the disappearance of Natalee Holloway, even though they disavow that it is the reason why their tourism numbers have fallen drastically.

Earth to the Caribbean … why would anyone want to visit if one does not feel safe! The end result is that people will go where they do feel safe.

The Ministry also reported that cruise arrivals to Nassau have been decreasing from a 2004 high of almost two million and will likely continue to decline with cruise companies having scheduled five fewer regular calls to the Nassau port.

Cruise companies have opted to sail elsewhere, presumably for the same reasons their negotiators have been citing for years: crime, dirt and conditions of the port.

Carinval Cruise Lines Ltd., the world’s largest cruise company, recently designed and built its own cruise terminal at Grand Turk in Turks and Caicos, which cruisecritic.com described as “a destination in its own right, with retail shops, a recreation area right on the beach and a huge pool.”

While construction was ongoing in the small island chain that begins just 30 miles from southwestern Bahamas, the company was still griping about conditions at the Prince George Dock in Nassau, according to a shore excursion operator whose company works closely with cruise lines. (The Nassau Guardian)

Heightened efforts to fight drug and migrant trafficking in the Bahamas

Particularly, the parties discussed ways to counter the increased flow of illegal narcotics through The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands from Hispaniola.

According to OPBAT statistics for the year, authorities have so far seized 427,481 pounds of marijuana, including 193,000 plants, 189.5 kilos of cocaine and arrested 32 alleged drug traffickers.

Caribbean ‘terrorism’? Implications for US-regional relations

Finally, Caribbean hoteliers must take a realistic perspective on the security benefits of the CARICOM Single Domestic Space. If fear of the Caribbean is allowed to lodge in the minds of American travellers, hoteliers will suffer. Ease and convenience of travel are ideal, but porous borders are insecure borders and travellers need to know that they will be safe and secure wherever they go. (Jamaica Gleaner)