A projected $235.5 million was pumped directly into the local economy in 2010 from cruise visitor spending, according to a senior tourism official. Though stopover spending is a much more larger number, the Ministry of Tourism's Director of Cruise Development Carla Stuart told Guardian Business yesterday that Bahamians tend to benefit directly from every dollar cruise passengers spend.

"With cruise passengers, that money goes directly into the local economy, be it through restaurants, tours, merchants, braiders, taxis, or in the straw market."

Stuart's estimate shows a 17.9 percent increase over 2009's spend of $199.67 million, when cruise passengers spent an average of $63.30 each throughout The Bahamas.  Comparatively, stopover passengers spent $1,230 on average that year, not including gambling.  In 2009, Nassau/Paradise Island saw total cruise passenger spend of $160.73 million, and Stuart estimated the number climbed to $185.4 million in 2010.

According to the director though, growing cruise visitor numbers remains important, improving on the average spend was also a key focus as it relates to increasing the sector's benefit to the local economy, with ongoing efforts occurring to that end.  She said that cruise lines indicate that they have a strong repeat customer business, so stocking a destination with things like new activities, fresh shopping options and generating a vibrant feeling in a port destination is essential to remain competitive.

"The beautification of downtown through the redevelopment project is a major part of that in terms of changing the entire appearance of downtown and its attractiveness," Stuart said.  "The ministry also works with partners to produce new products for cruise lines, so they can offer an entirely different experience to their guests.  With regards to shopping, we are always pleased with the private sector when they come up with new products for visitors to spend on."

Stopovers generate the lion's share of tourism spending - a statistician telling Guardian Business recently that as a rule of thumb, for every dollar spent by a cruise passenger about $9 is spent by a stopover visitor.  Projections indicate that for 2010, tourist spending across The Bahamas was $2.069 billion.  In the case of stopovers, however, foreign corporations own the major hotel properties in The Bahamas.  So a greater portion of the 'smaller' stopover dollars go directly to Bahamian merchants, artisans, and service providers.

Stuart is also projecting that in 2010 government revenues from head taxes were in excess of $57 million, up from 2009's $48.8 million.  2010 saw 3.960 million tourist arrivals by sea, a 16.7 percent increase on 2009's 3.392 million.

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