By Janet Silvera, Gleaner WriterWESTERN BUREAU:
AS JAMAICA regains vibrancy in the European market, Montego Bay welcomed its first German homeport ship for the winter tourist season on Saturday.
"Europe was the balancing partner in tourism for Jamaica, this past summer," said Kirk Taylor, president of Caribic Vacations, ground handlers for the ship.
"The presence of the cruise ship AIDA Aura has made way for the return of LTU to the island," said Jurgen Stille, Director of Seetours, the official tour operator of the ship.
LTU was the first German airline to fly to Jamaica, starting in the 1980s. Those flights continued until the spring of 2001.
Mr. Stille said that Condor Airlines now offers two weekly flights out of Germany to the Sangster International Airport as a result of the AIDA Aura's decision to add Montego Bay to its homeport in the resort city.
The luxury ship, which accommodates 1,500 passengers, will make 22 calls to Montego Bay during the cruise season. AIDA is one of 13 brands owned by Carnival Cruises.
SELLING OPPORTUNITIES
The ship has created selling opportunities for craft markets, duty free shops and attractions, and has given new business to six properties Grand Lido Braco, Star Fish Trelawny, Breezes Montego Bay, Sunset Beach Resort, Swept Away and Coyaba.
The two-week cruise stops in the Dominican Republic, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, Tortola and Antigua and Barbuda. An average 20 per cent of the passengers extend their visit to spend time in Jamaican hotels that participate in the tour programme.
Some 90 per cent of the AIDA's passengers are of German descent; the other 10 per cent is a mixture of visitors from Austria and The Netherlands.
"And we are getting more and more English-speaking people on board," Captain Randolph Hess told The Gleaner.
At a special welcome ceremony to mark the ship's arrival on Saturday, attraction operator David Lindo, who is also chairman of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce Cruise Shipping Committee, said cruise ship calls to Montego Bay are increasing. He said the city now gets an average of three large ships weekly.
"When the hotels slow down, cruise ships keep us alive," he said, adding that as an attraction owner, his earnings from cruise visitors often doubles what land-based guests spend.
According to the latest statistics from the Jamaica Tourist Board, the average cruise passenger spends US$85 during shore visits.
