Anguilla says it will continue to frown on cruise tourism even as the British Overseas Territory rebuilds its tourism sector after the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tourism officials say that the revenue generated from cruise tourism is not worth the environmental impact.
“Well, it’s a given, it’s not even debatable that cruise does have a negative impact on the overall environment,” Anguilla’s Minister of Tourism Haydn Hughes said.
“You have to weigh what you would benefit out of a cruise and what will be the drawbacks,” he said, adding that the British overseas territory has decided over decades that cruise tourism is not good for the destination.
The tourism minister said that St Thomas and St Maarten, the Caribbean destinations in which cruise passengers spend the most, the average expenditure is US$172 per passenger.
Hughes said that during the COVID-19 pandemic, it was mostly celebrities who were travelling to Anguilla and that improvements in public infrastructure, including the airport, have made the destination more attractive.
