01/07/09, 19:22:27 UTC

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Kudos for tourism minister

freeport.nassauguardian.net

Minister of Tourism Neko Grant and his team at the Ministry of Tourism deserve a hearty round of applause for convincing Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL) to include Grand Bahama as one of its ports of call.

Make no mistake about it, the fact that NCL announced last Saturday that it will return to Grand Bahama was due in no small measure to the dogged efforts of Grant and the professionals at his Ministry. Colin Murphy, vice president of Land Services and Destination Development for NCL, strongly indicated this when he said that planning for the deployment of cruise ships to Grand Bahama began two months ago when their team was invited by the Ministry of Tourism to experience Grand Bahama once again.

Obviously, Grant and his Ministry laid out the red carpet, in a manner of speaking. Murphy said his team came to Grand Bahama with an "open mind and within 24 hours, we were convinced." Their experience included a tour of the area for the new cruise port facility, a "delightful visit" with the dolphins at UNEXSO, a "rugged Safari Jeep Tour exploring the nature trails of Grand Bahama with Erica Gates and we were jetted through the mangroves on an air boat." These activities clearly provide a partial answer to the long-standing question as to whether there are sufficient things for visitors to Grand Bahama to do when they choose this island as the destination for their vacation."

Murphy noted that the decision to return to Grand Bahama was based "on the positive response of the Government and the Freeport Harbour Company as well as the experience, the culture, the cuisine and most of all the people of Grand Bahama, whom we came in contact with during this visit."

The latter, of course, is of paramount importance. How visitors to this island are treated by those they come in contact with — the taxi drivers who take them from one destination to the other, the straw vendors who sell them souvenirs, the waiters and waitresses who serve them in restaurants — most certainly will help to determine whether they will leave the island with a good impression and want to return again.

As Minister Grant noted at the announcement last Saturday, in the short-term, NCL is expected to deliver some 38,000 passengers to Grand Bahama, Nassau and its private get-away island, Great Stirrup Cay in the Berry Islands. In the long-term, however, Grand Bahama's tourism future — as far as NCL is concerned — looks exceedingly bright. NCL's Murphy confirmed that the company has taken possession of a new state-of-the-art ship, the Norwegian Gem, which he described as the latest in a line of innovative ships setting standards for others to follow. It has a capacity to carry 2,800 passengers.

After working with the Ministry of Tourism, NCL announced that it has agreed to add 32 cruises between 2007 and 2009 that will call at Nassau, Great Stirrup Cay, and Grand Bahama, with 28 of those calls being made by the Norwegian Gem.

As a native of Grand Bahama, there is no question that Grant, although his overall focus is on promoting tourism to the entire Bahamas, made a special effort to have Grand Bahama included in this exceedingly good news from NCL. Indeed, he has been at the forefront of efforts to increase tourism to Grand Bahama from he assumed his position as Minister of Tourism.

For that, he deserves the unstinting gratitude of all Grand Bahamians and everyone who makes a living on this island.

 Printable Version  | published Oct 10, 2007