T&T is behind the Caribbean in cruise sector marketing and there has been a decline in cruise ship passengers primarily due to travel advisories.
This was one of the key issues brought to the fore when officials of the Tourism Development Company (TDC) appeared before a Joint Select Committee (JSC) of Parliament yesterday.
The committee, which was chaired by Independent Senator Dr Victor Wheeler, also heard about impact of the TDC's operations on the tourism sector over the last five years; the adequacy of the agency's organisational structure and human resources to support implementations of its strategic objectives; the effectiveness of its management arrangements; TDC's strategic direction; and the major challenges confronting the agency.
TDC cruise ship market specialist Greer Assam told the JSC T&T faced several constraints in the cruise ship sector. She said there are currently 11 cruise lines servicing T&T, some which come on a specific itinerary.
Assam said in 2013, there were approximately 45,000 cruise passenger arrivals during the peak April to November season. This compared with 800,000 for St Martin, 900,000 for Aruba, 1 million for the Bahamas and approximately 160,000 for Grenada.
She said travel advisories warning foreigners about T&T played a significant role in the decline in cruise arrivals.
"The port of Port-of-Spain is a very old port. It is one of the oldest in the region. It can only facilitate one cruise ship at a time and even when that happens the cargo vessels have to be taken off the port," Assam said.
She said a major concern was that the Grier Channel leading to the deep water wharves at Port-of-Spain has not been dredged for about four years and the harbour has not been upgraded.
"The TDC has made recommendations to the minister of transportation," she said.
The JSC was told some ground work had been done on the TDC's policies to expand the cruise line sector.
TDC chairman Umesh Rampersad said the agency and its policies were under constant review.
"We need to review the current status on the cruise industry and to make more informed decisions in the future," he said.