By Denise Clarke, Staff Reporter
WESTERN BUREAU:
CRUISE SHIPPING interests in Montego Bay are hoping to encourage at least 30,000 passengers to return to the island for their vacations, through a new initiative announced yesterday.
The initiative, spearheaded by the Cruise Shipping Committee of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce, offers cruise passengers a chance to win a free trip to the island courtesy of Air Jamaica for a one week vacation at Sandals Royal Caribbean in Montego Bay.
President of the Committee David Lindo said that a survey for the year 2000 showed that 50 per cent of the 200,000 cruise passengers who come to Montego Bay each year say it is extremely or very likely that they would return to the island for a vacation.
"What we have not been able to do so far is to capture the database so that we could find out who are these people, and encourage them to come back for a land-based vacation," Mr. Lindo said. "I am hoping that we will be able to convince somewhere between 25 and 30 per cent of the cruise passengers to come back to Jamaica."
As of January 8, cruise passengers will be asked to complete questionnaires on their expenditure during their excursion to the island. The questionnaires will be given to the passengers at the Montego Bay Cruise Ship Terminal, and will ask for the names and telephone numbers of the respondents. One winner of the free trip and one week vacation for two will be drawn each month for the next six months.
In addition, Air Jamaica Vacations, which will administer the programme, will compile a database of the respondents, and market various hotels and attractions to them. Attractions located on the island's south coast will be specifically targeted.
General manager in charge of cruise shipping in the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB), William Tatham, said the initiative is the first step towards capitalising on the benefits of the cruise shipping industry. "We will be able to promote on a level that we have not done before and we should see results very shortly," said Mr. Tatham. "We have failed in the past to capitalise on cruise shipping. What this initiative does is give greater exposure of the hotels to the cruise passengers and get them to taste the product."
The move is expected to bring a major boost to Jamaica's tourism, which has been reeling from the fall-out in the United States following the September 11 terrorist attacks there.
