Mitchell optimistic about Royal Caribbean return
Randall Mitchell -
TOURISM, Culture and the Arts Minister Randall Mitchell on Friday welcomed a decision by Royal Caribbean cruise lines to include TT as one of the destinations on its 2021/2022 cruise season.
In a statement, Mitchell said, We’re excited our destination is once again on the itinerary of Royal Caribbean International. These itineraries are planned years in advance. Both our islands are beautiful, warm and welcoming with a few undiscovered gems along the way.
But he added, This development is certainly an encouraging one, and while it remains conditional on the re-opening of our borders and the decision to recommence receiving cruise ships, it shows continued interest in destinations Trinidad and Tobago.”
Cruise ships are the biggest casualty of COVID-19: they have all but ceased to exist – or at least to be seen. The pandemic has cruelly exposed the extreme fragility of the industry to attack from the very thing that makes them so popular: crowds. People in the know are pondering: is COVID-19 an existential threat to the industry? It certainly puts a hard end to the simplistic assumption on which the industry has been based for the past 30 years: never-ending growth. You can forget about that one! What other sacred cows of the industry now have to be rethought?
Three words: All of them. I am one of those ‘pessimists’ who believe that the cruise ship industry will take a permanent hit from COVID-19, and that although passenger numbers will rise after it’s all over, they will never reach the levels experienced pre-pandemic – at least not in the near future. And I’m fine with that. Hopefully, those people who choose to no longer cruise will do what they used to: actually v
Aquila frontline service training spanned 10 locations across six islands in the BVI. More than 2,500 people were trained over two weeks Before the British Virgin Islands reopened to tourism Dec. 1, the government needed to ensure frontline workers were trained in new health protocols and ready to make visitors feel welcome despite masks and distancing. Hospitality still needs to reign supreme, even in this era, as BVI Tourist Board Director Clive McCoy put it.
2,500 workers trained
McCoy selected the Aquila Center for Cruise Excellence, which delivered training over two weeks in November to more than 2,500 hospitality providers, including taxi drivers, tour guides, airport personnel, hotel and spa staff.