The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A new association of shore excursion/experience providers will tackle the cruise industry’s $2m liability insurance requirement as a key priority, a tourism executive has revealed.

Janet Johnson, the Tourism Development Corporation’s chief executive, told Tribune Business that all the legal documents to facilitate the Bahamas Association of Shore Experiences’ creation are in place ahead of a formal annual general meeting (AGM) that will be held “within the next month”.

That will formally launch the association following the election of its officers, with Ms Johnson revealing that its creation has been driven by the industry’s belief that it is not attracting sufficient attention and support from the government and others.

“We’ve got all the legal documents done, and are ready to put on an annual general meeting,” she said. “It’s really for the entrepreneurs. We found that, during the pandemic, prior to July 1 last year the water sports operators didn’t feel they were getting the necessary attention they ought to have.

“They didn’t have a voice. This was already in the works. This will be the umbrella organisation for the experiences. On the various chats I manage on What’s App, people said we need this, we need to organise it. I said it’s done. The Tourism Development Corporation has done all the legal work, and they’ve got the Articles of Association.

“We’re about to have the AGM and select the officers. We’ve put together a letter to go out to everyone asking them to stand for leadership if they feel so inclined and to determine the date. It’s coming out within the next month.”

It is unclear whether the new association will have any relationship with the recently-formed Bahamas Excursion Operators Association, which appears to be focused on representing companies from a similar - if not the same - market.

Ms Johnson, meanwhile, said the Tourism Development Corporation will follow the Small Business Development Centre (SBDC) in exploring how it can make general liability insurance more affordable for Bahamian tour, shore and experience providers and thus enable them to meet the $2m benchmark set by the likes of Royal Caribbean.

Elisa Shen, Royal Caribbean’s vice-president of onboard revenue and gaming, conceded during Monday’s webinar with local firms on the contracts potentially on offer from its Nassau home porting that there are concerns among Bahamian small and medium-sized enterprises that the cruise line sets the threshold too high in terms of its requirements for companies to do business with it.

In particular, Royal Caribbean requires tour providers to obtain $2m in general liability insurance. Ms Shen conceded: “We have our requirements. We do have challenges with engaging smaller operators because of our requirements. I wouldn’t say our requirements are too high; we know that’s one way to look at it..... It is a barrier to small businesses and we are committed to resolving it. It won’t be resolved overnight.”

She urged all parties to come up with “a better way to do business”. Davinia Blair, the Small Business Development Centre’s executive director, said the agency has worked with Tristar Insurance Agents & Brokers to create a group policy “for more affordable liability insurance”.

“We’ve created a group insurance programme for contracts like this,” she added.