The Tribune

By ALEX LIGHTBOURN

AS IN nature, balance is the essence of order. Ecosystems that become imbalanced collapse. Environments subjected to invasive species where there is no natural predator can overwhelm indigenous species. There is a natural order to everything and if not carefully maintained can spell disaster. We fear that this may be the case with the cruise industry.

It is by all measures a dominant invader. It bears the facade of an exciting fun-filled experience, but the cruise lines are relentless in their economic appetite.

We have seen an evolution over the past five or so decades, where numbers have lulled regional governments into a false sense of success, while actually resulting in a spiralling in the wrong direction.

While The Bahamas has been busy boasting of how many millions of passengers sail into Nassau Harbour, lazy tourism officials have revelled in such numbers rather than re-investing in the visitor experience.

We have all seen the comments, the product sucks. The forts, which should be iconic spots, are nothing but a venue for cheap souvenirs. The once glorious Water Tower, which has a breath-taking panoramic view of New Providence Island, is probably structurally unsound. The Botanical Gardens is nothing but acres of weed patches. “Junkanoo” Beach (so renamed by someone, who knows who, on a whim) is a pathetic rock pile. Bay Street, once a bustling bazaar of products from around the globe, is now a hustler’s haven.

We have allowed the product to so deteriorate that we can only concede to the cruise cabal when they insist on creating their own version of The Bahamas.

Some would say that we have done so similarly with the mega resorts. While it is worthy of debate, what is certain is that the direct benefits from those destinations are without question keeping our economy afloat. We know this.

On the other hand, the cruise industry has created a beggar class, who meander amongst the masses of fattened calves disembarking from those floating behemoths, hoping for the crumbs they have left to throw to them from their own meager pockets.

It is an unhealthy dynamic and we are painted with the nasty side of the equation.

So in order to appease their customer base, the floating resorts, which no longer find our ports desirable, cajole successive governments here and throughout the region to sell off our land or allow it to be sold so that the passenger can be shielded from the ugliness. Our leadership could just as easily have mitigated these demands by enhancing the product and suppressing the hustling.

The latest in these concessions is the quintessential final straw. Allowing RCCL to create a beach experience on Paradise Island is an insult to us all. Most of all, it demonstrates our failure to support and develop local tourism enterprise. Once again, we capitulate.

If the cruise industry and the government truly saw themselves as partners, why not partner in the redevelopment of the sites alluded to earlier. They could still exact their pound of flesh from the sales and give back some of what they extract from the economy in a sustainable way. For their part, government could ensure through enforcement that the illegal and undesirable activities cease, and vendors are placed at those sites in an orderly fashion.

Instead, the government essentially is complicit in the industry’s attempt to at worst segregate, or at best to cloak rather than clean up our act. We believe full heartedly that the precedent set by the RCCL deal is not a good one.

Before we know it, Rose Island, Blue Lagoon and Athol Island will be targeted and the cruise ships will launch their own “safe” fleet of fast ferries to get their passengers to those destinations. The port of Nassau will become where they simply drop off their garbage. The scales are very close to being irreversibly tipped. Perhaps we have already passed that point.

PS (Let’s not forget a Bahamian was the recipient of a sovereign irrevocable Cabinet Conclusion only for the then Minister of Tourism & Aviation to announce on TV - even though Toby had been forwarded a Crown lease from the Government of The Bahamas - that the ministry intended to award the same exact plot of land to a foreigner (RCCL); purportedly after receiving a better offer).