MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falklands split over limits to cruise ship visits

Remarks made about cruise ship tourism made by Falkland Islands Governor, Mr.Alan Huckle, during his recent 'state of the nation' address to the Islands' Legislative Council have brought a mixed reaction from the local tourism industry.

Speaking about tourism, which is now the second biggest contributor to the Falklands economy, at the opening of the annual budget session of the Falkland Islands Legislative Council, Governor Huckle said, "We must ensure that the success of the industry does not actually damage the very things that attract our visitors."Mr. Huckle went on to express the hope that a dialogue could be opened with the cruise ship operators with the aim of avoiding the Islands' capital, Stanley, being "flooded with thousands of visitors one day and then no one for several days before the next tsunami-like wave arrives."During the Legislative Councillors' speeches of thanks to the Governor for his address, Mr.Huckle's call for a control on visitor numbers to Stanley found support from Councillor Michael Rendell, who asked "Why should we not be giving notice to operators that in, say, three years time, we will no longer accept each and every cruise ship that wants to arrive on any particular day?" and called for "informed estimates"to be made of the maximum numbers of passengers that could be entertained in Stanley, while ensuring that they and local traders had enjoyed a satisfying experience, while ensuring that they and local traders had enjoyed a satisfying experience. Mr.Rendell, who was one of the directors of the Falkland Islands Tourist Board recently the subject of a "no confidence' vote by members, warned, "If we carry on much longer on our current strategy - if it can be called a strategy - of blindly taking all we can get, then we may well live to regret it."Roger Spink, local director of the Falkland Islands Company Ltd. and newly elected Director of the Falkland Islands Tourist Board, told Mercopress that he thought most people involved with cruise ship tourism in the Falklands would be "very disappointed"if any attempt were to be made by FIG to legislate against multiple ship visits. While there were genuine challenges related to the growth in visitor numbers, Mr Spink pointed out that when the subject of possible visit limits had been raised at a recent meeting of the Tourist Board, the membership had overwhelmingly expressed a clear preference for taking constructive steps to meet those challenges to enlarge and improve the tourism product, rather than run the very real risk of driving away a very valuable income stream. Given the increased visitor numbers expected next season and the fact that the landing fees per visitor had been raised from ₤15 to ₤16.50, Mr.Spink estimated that the increased direct income to the Falkland Islands Government deriving from cruise ship visits next year would be in the region of ₤150,000. He contrasted this extra revenue with the "miserly"₤30,000 inserted in this year's government estimates for much needed improvements to the area around the Stanley Visitor Centre. Similar views were expressed by John Pollard, Managing Director of Sulivan Shipping Services Ltd., who provide agency services and arrange shore excursions for the majority of the cruise ships visiting Stanley during the summer season. In the opinion of Mr.Pollard, while it might be desirable to avoid the arrival of two or more large ships on one day, the Falkland Islands were not in a strong position to make demands of the cruise ship industry. The itineraries of the larger ships were in many cases effectively 120 days long and the key points were the need every fourteen days to be at their starting and terminating ports in time to coincide with the arrival of fresh passengers and to hit the onward travel connections for those departing. For ships carrying one or two thousand passengers this was a massive logistical operation. He had observed that they preferred to use the same days of the week each time for reasons which probably related to the availability of hotel beds and airframes. In comparison to the ports where cruises were initiated or concluded, intermediate ports like Stanley, were of lesser importance and were, in any case, in competition with others in the region, who would be keen to take up any business we were to turn away. Mr Pollard said that he objected to people making potentially damaging statements about tourism in the Falklands without consulting the industry, saying, "They should talk first to the people whose jobs are at risk" "If the problem is that there are too many people in Stanley at any one time, we must find more ways of getting them out of town" Pollard said, concluding "if we don't put the facilities in, we'll lose the ships anyway".Sulivan Shipping Services and other local agencies like the Falkland Islands Company and Falklands Tours and Travel, arrange a variety of excursions for the cruise ship passengers who visited Stanley - last year over 50,000 - and will be developing more for the new season. According to information provided by Sulivan Shipping Services, the biggest 'tsunami' of ships last season occurred on the 23rd January, when the Rotterdam, Norwegian Crown and Explorer IIbetween them brought some 2,600 visitors to Stanley, amounting to rather more than the whole population. Apart from reducing the number of pedestrians on streets, excursions around Stanley and further afield to see farms, battle sites and penguin colonies are a growing and profitable element of the cruise ship visits - Sulivan Shipping Service Ltd. alone arranged 20,000 shore excursions last season. As Roger Spink pointed out to Mercopress, meeting the excursion needs of such a large number of people requires the participation of a good proportion of the residents of Stanley and also offers work opportunities to farmers, thus spreading the economic benefits of cruise ship tourism more widely into the rural sector. John Fowler (Mercopress) Stanley

Categories: Tourism, Falkland Islands.

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