| In spite of
mayoral support for a significant hike in disembarkation
fees, and higher cruise industry standards, Key West caves in to
pressure from cruise lines and actually wants to be the
bargain-basement cruise port. Bigger ships, bigger hordes of
people, less city revenue. Somebody gets rich. Go figure.
This October 3 guest editorial in Solares Hill details it: |
Caribbean charges cruise lines with abuse of market
dominance
by Elliot Baron
Key West officials are currently negotiating with cruise ship lines over
higher disembarkation fees. It turns out that we are in good company.
The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), composed of tourism ministers
from all of the Caribbean nations, under the umbrella of CARICOM,
supports a proposal to enact a $20 disembarkation fee, applied uniformly
throughout the islands. The CTO vote, in June 2003, was unanimous in
support of the uniform fee, but a statement released this month by the
Secretary General of that organization claims that the cruise industry
is playing dirty.
In the statement released on September 18, Secretary General Jean Holder
justifies the increase due to costs, explaining that Caribbean nations
have "been forced to bear these burdens almost alone, as the costs of
infrastructural development, product development, training, security,
environmental protection, insurance and marketing have escalated. The
cruise lines have, on the other hand, been allowed to operate in our
region, using Caribbean facilities and assets, and making considerable
profits, while bearing a disproportionately small share of the burden of
maintaining those resources on which they rely.”
Last January, the topic of higher fees gained momentum at a “Keys in the
Balance” panel discussion hosted by Last Stand. Due to the intense
public interest generated by the forum, the City of Key West convened a
City Summit on cruise ships and their impacts in March. Higher
disembarkation fees emerged as a consensus opinion at the gathering.
Following the summit, Mayor Jimmy Weekley, attending a Last Stand Board
of Directors meeting, announced that he supported an increase in the
fees. He stated that the minimum fee that he would support was $15 per
head and that he would consider a higher fee up to $20 per head.
Times have changed. City Manager Julio Avael, announced in April that
the city was seeking to increase the fee by only two dollars, from the
present level of eight dollars per head to a new level of ten dollars.
That is the figure that the city has used for the upcoming budget year.
Michelle Paige, president of the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA),
responded negatively to the increase. According to the Key West Citizen
(April 25, 2003), Paige, who attended the March summit stated, “I was
caught off guard by this [Avael’s recommended increases]. I thought the
cruise industry was well-respected in Key West. This smacks of a lack of
appreciation of us working together.”
Cruise ship representatives were in Key West in September to meet with
the city. Press reports quoted Disney Cruise representatives that the
increase didn't pose a problem for them. However, representatives from
other major lines, meeting with staff and elected officials, announced
that they would resist the increase, according to a city source. Paige,
president of the FCCA, claimed that the increase would make Key West
noncompetitive in the market, adding, “They have put out the message,
and it's loud and clear, that Key West wants fewer cruise ships and
fewer passengers,”
In the parallel Caribbean theater, Secretary-general Holder attempts to
clear up what he claims is a campaign of disinformation there,
orchestrated by FCCA.
Holder states that CTO is aware, “that teams from the Florida Caribbean
Cruise Lines have been making the rounds in the Caribbean and presenting
their side of the case, somewhat aggressively, both to governments and
to private sector suppliers,” He continues that FCCA has employed
“certain tactics [which] would be regarded as unacceptable by reasonable
men. We have heard, for example, that a representative of the cruise
lines telephoned a Caribbean Prime Minister in hospital the night before
he was to undergo a major operation, to dissuade him from supporting the
levy.”
Holder adds that FCCA, acting as a virtual, foreign monopoly, has
mobilized taxi operators against their own governments, which he claims
violates a practice under negotiation by the World Trade Organization.
Holder notes that there is a double standard. “It seems that it is
alright for developed countries to tax consumers to meet their tourism
and environmental development costs, but if Caribbean countries do so,
this is in some way immoral.” Holder notes that FCCA has concentrated
its efforts on the most vulnerable Caribbean countries, in an attempt to
force a schism in the agreement,
The CTO asserts that those Caribbean interests who have been persuaded
by FCCA’s arguments, “are clearly acting against their own long term
interests and in complete ignorance of what the real issues are.” The
statement implores the industry “which makes great use of the
Caribbean's national resources for considerable profit, to make a fair
contribution to the development of this region and to cease and desist
from putting undue pressure on the most vulnerable states in the
region.“
It concludes, “There is a myth that the Cruise Lines, if Caribbean
countries do not bow under their pressure, can simply take their
business away from the region and go to places like Alaska. ...Although
the Cruise lines can avoid some Caribbean countries, they cannot avoid
all of them and still operate any kind of successful business for very
long. This is a powerful argument for a solid Caribbean position.
Further, anyone who thinks that cruises to Alaska can be operated
outside of a limited period of the year, clearly has little knowledge of
geography.” |
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