Cruise ship congestion continues: is it wise?

 On Friday, 23 December, three large cruise ships will be visiting Road Town: the Queen Mary II,  Westerdam, and Costa Magica. The Traffic Department has issued an appeal to the motoring public to be vigilant and cooperative with particular attention to the movements of  thousands of tourists visiting the capital.

While the advisory and related preventive measures are all laudable, the arrival on the busiest day of the year of a huge number of cruise ship visitors is smack of bad planning. This, despite the Chief Minister’s call in April 2004 for effective overall management of cruise ship tourism in the BVI.

On 8 April 2004 the Chief Minister told parliamentarians that there is a need for a redirecting of BVI cruise tourism to ensure the Territory’s resources are not over-extended.

In 1994 Government put in place a policy on cruise tourism to ensure that visitors to the BVI enjoyed their stay and wanted to return. The policy set limits in the Territory to 2000 cruise ship visitors per day, recognising that the capacity for affording them a satisfactory stay was limited.

On Christmas Eve 2003, some nine years later, at least five cruise ships with some 6,000 passengers  called on Tortola. 6,000 was three times the fixed quota. At the time there was public discontent and Government seemed to take notice.

In the meantime the Development Planning Unit has outlined a strategy whereby the addition of visiting ships should be permitted only in the case of luxury cruise liners. Additionally the DPU  has advised that where possible only one cruise ship should be permitted in Road Town on any given day.

All of this goes to prove that there are guidelines, regulations, policies and reports advising Government and Ports Authority on how to deal with the ever increasing demand of the cruise ship market.

 It is time for our decision makers  to be more pragmatic and implement  the limitations outlined by the policy approved over ten years ago. Of course, the Territory welcomes cruise ship passengers, but a huge number of them at a time when Road Town is bustling with  the usual last minute holiday shopping creates significant challenges to residents, taxi operators, local businesses and traffic management.

There is no significant trade off for a small place like the BVI when we see the devastations inflicted by mass tourism in other islands. The only tangible result is short-term gain now for long-time pain to follow suit. 

Future generations will look upon us based on the decisions we take now, and we should be wise enough to take decisions that are sensible. Besides, once we have squandered the pristine beauty of nature’s little secrets what will be left for future generations? Nothing but blame for the senseless desecration and mismanagement of a priceless wonder of the world—our Virgin Islands.

 24 DEC 2005 - Editorial