By Roy Sanford, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
THE TOURIST resort of Montego Bay has been experiencing record highs in cruise ship passenger arrivals this summer with a 50 per cent increase in June alone when compared to the same period last year.
To further add to the good fortune the city has been experiencing, one ship was diverted to Montego Bay on Tuesday because of the threat of Hurricane Frances heading toward the Bahamas Islands. Another ship is being diverted to the port today for the same reason.
David Lindo, chairman of the Cruise Ship Committee of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce, said diversion of the two ships, each with 3,000 passengers, and the presence of one ship in port yesterday, also with 3,000 passengers, is good for the city.
"To have nine thousand arrivals in three days is very good," he said. "I don't think we've ever had that before."
EXTRA MONEY
He noted that the average cruise ship passenger spends US$85 and the crew spends about US$60 dollars a day while on shore. "So you can understand that we are earning quite a bit of extra money this summer in Montego Bay," he said.
Mr. Lindo pointed out that the impact from the cruise arrivals was immediate because the money earned goes straight into the city's economy. "When cruise ships passengers land they employ the bus drivers, they go to the beach, they go to souvenir shops and they go to craft markets," he said. "So almost instantly the money goes into the local economy."
In 2003 Montego Bay received a record high of 300,000 cruise passengers compared to 170,000 in 2002.
