Growing a town

Ruddy Mathison, Gleaner Writer

The advent of cruise shipping in the town of Falmouth is a phenomenon that is viewed by the business community, residents, and a section of the religious community of Trelawny with mixed reactions. A wide cross section of the community is still not sure what will happen now that cruise ships are calling at the multimillion-dollar port on a frequent basis.

After some seven calls in just over a month by Royal Caribbean's fleet of vessels at the port that is still under construction, there are complaints from certain quarters that the impact of cruise-ship tourism has not been felt or seen by them so far.

mixed reactions

President of the Trelawny Chamber of Commerce, Richard Bourke, says from his perspective, the development of cruise shipping in Falmouth is a welcome economic activity for the parish as a whole. However, he has been getting mixed reactions from the business community. "I am getting both positive and negative reactions. The craft vendors are reporting increased business, while the wholesalers, retailers, restaurants, and law offices in Water Square are complaining that the traffic restrictions in the square have severely disrupted their businesses," Burke stated.

The chamber of commerce president is also very critical of the way basic services in Falmouth are prioritised. He made reference to the transportation centre that is still to be constructed, the unfinished police station, and the new market that were supposed to be completed from last year as areas that he hopes some attention will be given to, now that the cruise ships are coming.

Bourke said effective micro-management of the development of the town to facilitate cruise-ship tourism could ensure that the inclusion of these services was addressed in tandem with the development. He asserted that this could have been done months ago, since everyone involved was aware of the plans to build the cruise-ship terminal.

Chairman of the Tourism Enhancement Fund, Godfrey Dyer, said the improvement work now in progress in Water Square, Falmouth, should be substantially completed by month end. He said most of the buildings in the square have already been painted, and paving work aimed at modernising the town square to complement the pedestrianisation exercise is far advanced.

increased commerce

But while Bourke has alluded to the craft vendors seeing increased business as a result of cruise ships calling in Falmouth, a number of them are claiming that they are only seeing marginal, and in some cases, no increased business at all. These craft vendors said they are adopting a wait-and-see attitude since the cruise-ship business has just started in Falmouth.

At the same time, a prevailing view widely held by some residents of Falmouth is that their lives will not be different with the establishment of cruise-ship tourism. The residents pointed to the lack of related employment opportunities, adding that they did not envisage any such employment coming from the port even when it is fully operational.

Amid the negative views about the employment possibilities held by these residents, a group of 50 residents involved themselves in a Tourism Product Development training initiative and recently received certificates.

The residents, who were trained in culture, geography, and customer service, said they see the need to equip themselves so that they can capitalise on the employment opportunities that they think will be available soon.

Minister Glen Kerr of the Praise Temple Apostolic Church in Falmouth told his congregation recently, while delivering the sermon at a youth service, that "even though the parish needs development, we have to be aware of the cruise-ship development".

The church should be ready to provide swift rebuke of the demonic forces that will inevitably accompany the cruise-ship business. He referred to a story told to him of a prostitute in Falmouth who boasted about earning US$800 on just one ship day as an example of the kind of evil that is associated with the cruise-ship industry.