|
Even keel?
The
Citizen looks at the cruise industry's impact on Key West in this
two-day series.
Sunday: The environment:
Cruise ships are the size of a floating city, with all the garbage and
toilet flushes associated with 3,000 people living together.
Today:
The economy: Cruise ship passengers pay $10.63 for their port of call in
Key West, and then pump more money into the hands of local businesses
and workers as they buy food, drinks and souvenirs.
Some
say tourism boost; some say business bust
Businesses
outside of the pier area say they lose the effort to coax cruise
passengers into their galleries, shops and restaurants
BY TIMOTHY O'HARA
keysnews.com
KEY WEST --
Millions of dollars will be spent by cruise ship passengers this year,
with a million visitors strolling off vessels and into local bars, shops
and eateries.
Chris Belland,
chief executive officer of Historic Tours of America, puts the number at
near $97 million, citing a recent study. Belland and partner Ed Swift
run the sponge market, the Conch Tour Train, the Wreckers Museum,
aquarium and other Mallory Square businesses, which cater to tourists,
especially groups from the cruise ships.
However, some
wonder how much of that money makes it past the 500 block of Duval
Street and who is benefiting from cruise ships.
The debate has
heated up recently, as city commissioners consider raising the bar on
environmental regulations for the ships that dock in Key West. Hoteliers
and some upscale-business people have questioned for several years if
enough people benefit from the cruise industry.
Most cruise
passengers congregate in the area near Mallory Square and journey a few
blocks away to specialty bars such as Sloppy Joe's at the corner of
Duval and Greene streets or Margaritaville in the 500 block of Duval
Street. Those who travel further than the few blocks around the piers
are usually in guided and confined groups on Conch Tour Trains or
Trolleys.
That was the
scene Thursday with three cruise ships in town. The markets along
Mallory Square bustled with hundreds of tourists perusing painted
coconuts, straw hats and other souvenirs. Several Conch Tour Trains were
packed with customers.
"George, this
is darling," Barbara Smits told her husband as she ogled a coconut
carved into the shape of a captain. "It will look great above the bar."
The retired
Ohio couple had just disembarked off the cruise ship Zenith and were
shopping in Tropical Shells and Gifts, known as the sponge market, for
small gifts for friends. The couple continued down Duval Street,
cruising T-shirt and gift shops, on their way to the Hemingway House on
Whitehead Street.
However, nine
blocks up, the scene was much different. The galleries and gift shops
were nearly empty. The restaurants were serving breakfast to locals.
Upper Duval
Street gift store and gallery owner Peter Wassylenko says cruise ship
passengers only amount to 5 percent of his business. He has begun to
carry small bonsai gardens in an attempt to cater to this minority
customer, said Wassylenko, who also runs a charter dive boat. His
six-passenger dive boat also doesn't see much action from cruise ship
passengers.
"We try to
offer something special," said Wassylenko, who owns Bonsai Unique Gift
Gallery and Dive Shop. "We offer more private trips for those who want a
more enjoyable experience. We really don't fit the cruise ship mold."
A couple of
doors down, Sean McConnell owner of Grand Vin, is reading the newspaper
and waiting for customers. The upscale wine bar and shop doesn't see
much foot traffic from cruise ships. He says maybe one or two passengers
a month stumble into his place.
Outside of
nightly groups of locals, much of his business, like Wassylenko's, comes
from tourists staying three or four nights.
One of the
biggest attractions for visitors on Upper Duval Street is the Key West
Butterfly & Nature Conservatory, which advertises on cruise ships and
has contracts with cruise ships. Managers of the museum would like to
see more people visit Upper Duval.
"It would be a
great experience for visitors to come up Duval Street," conservatory
co-owner George Fernandez said.
However, the
cruise business doesn't seem to be missed much in many of the galleries
and stores.
The passengers
have earned the reputation as cheap. They are only in town to buy
cocktails and booze to smuggle back on the cruise ships, to offset
expensive cruise liner prices, some say. Cruise ship critics question if
the intrusion on the island and the environmental impact is worth it,
especially if only a handful of businesses are benefiting.
Who
benefits?
Some
businesses, such as Historic Tours of America, have agreements with
cruise ship companies to sell tourism packages aboard ships. Historic
Tours of America sells tickets onboard and the guests are scooped up by
the Conch Tour Train for excursions around the island. The tickets also
include trips to the aquarium, shipwreck museum and other Historic Tours
of America businesses.
The city
contracts with Historic Tours of America to shuttle cruise ship
passengers from the Outer Mole Pier on Truman Annex to downtown. The
shuttle drops off the passengers on Front Street and in Mallory Square,
just steps from Historic Tours of America shops. The city is slated to
pay Historic Tours of America $569,000 for transporting the cruise ship
passengers, city finance reports state.
City
Commissioner Carmen Turner is lobbying hard to make sure that cruise
passengers are given access to the galleries, coffee shops and other
quaint boutiques of Upper Duval Street.
Commissioner
Tom Oosterhoudt, who represents Lower Duval Street residents and
businesses, would like to see the cruise passengers spread throughout
Duval Street. He wants to see the creation of a free shuttle that would
drive up and down the main tourism corridor. The shuttle would alleviate
congestion on Lower Duval, when there is more than one cruise ship in
town on a busy holiday weekend.
"People come
down here for the ambiance and it can be like Times Square on Lower
Duval," Oosterhoudt said. "Cruise passengers need to see more than the
first two blocks of Duval Street."
Survey
says?
Cruise
passengers seem to view Key West more favorably than some residents and
merchants view them. Many say they may return for another visit.
Key West
scored a 4 out of a possible 5 points as a place to visit, according to
a recent county Tourist Development Council survey. The study also found
that 82 percent of the 161 polled would return to Key West for a longer
overnight visit.
The statistic
shows cruise ships are a "fabulous" way to market the city, Key Chamber
of Commerce President Virginia Panico said.
"They come
here, get a taste of it and want to come back," she said. "We need to
use it to our advantage."
Overall, 61
percent of people polled said that having Key West as a stop had "a lot
or something" to do with why they took the cruise, the survey found.
Souvenirs and
trinkets topped the list of expenditures by cruise ship passengers,
followed by Conch Tour Train and museums tours. Alcohol was the third
biggest purchase.
Dining came in
fourth and water-oriented sports -- such as snorkeling, scuba diving,
parasailing, and fishing -- was last when it came to expenditures that
were mentioned in the survey.
Cruise ships
passengers were interviewed Aug. 1 through Aug. 6 as they got back on
vessels parked at Pier B and the Outer Mole Pier. The purpose of the
study, which was conducted by Prange & O'Hearn's Insights Inc., was to
provide information about the motivation and behavior of cruise
passengers disembarking in Key West. The passengers came from four
different cruise companies: Disney, Carnival, Celebrity and Royal
Caribbean.
The study
found that one out of four spent a $100 or more on one single item while
in town. In contrast, passengers spend roughly $220 a day aboard cruise
ships, a 1999 study found.
Cruise
companies make millions every year on drinks, gambling, retail sales at
gift shops, shore excursions, spa services and photography, said Ross
Klein, a sociologist who has spent years researching the cruise ship
industry and author of the book "Cruise Ship Blues."
The cruise
industry continues to show billions in profits and cabin occupancy rates
that leave Key West hotels and guest houses envious. In 2000, Carnival
had a 104 percent occupancy rate and 108 percent in 1999. The
percentages are based on double occupancy rates with more than 100
percent occupancy when three guests stay in a room, statistics show.
Key West
hoteliers occupancy rate averaged 74 percent over most of 2003, said
Peter Ilchuk, president of the Lodging Association of Florida Keys and
Key West. December's figures weren't available.
Quality of life
City officials
and community leaders are debating the pros and cons of hosting the
cruise ship industry and about the number of vessels the small port town
can handle.
Mayor Jimmy
Weekley has formed his own committee to review tourism, and his goal is
to create a tourism management plan. The city agreed to conduct the
Quality of Life Study, designed to look at the impacts of the cruise
ship industry on the island, as part of settlement agreement with
environmental group Last Stand.
According to
federal interstate commerce laws, the city can't make a profit on cruise
ships because it would impede interstate commerce. The city commission,
earlier this month, increased disembarkment fees from $8 to $10.63.
The $9 million
in fees comprise roughly 9 percent of the city's $32 million budget.
About $5.5 goes back into cruise ship-related expenditures like port
maintenance and security, according to the city finance department. The
remaining $3.5 million goes back into the general fund balance to be
used for indirect cruise ship services like police, fire and public
works services.
tohara@keysnews.com
Passengers arriving in Key West
2003 995,092
2002 994,958
2001 677,250
2000 656,866
1999 630,856
1998 579,468
1997 588,791
1996 427,130
1995 374,361
1994 476,432
Source: City
of Key West Finance Department |
