BVI Port Development Poised to Attract More Cruise Business

Cruising is hot and the Caribbean is where it’s at – especially now in high season. Last month, St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands had nearly 70 cruise ship visits. In the neighboring British Virgin Islands, Tortola hosted fewer than half that number.

But officials in the BVI are confident their massive $75 million development plan will attract not only more ships, but bigger ones to its capital Road Town.

“It’s all good news,” said Verne Profitt, cruise ship tour executive with Romney Associates.

Tortola Pier Park, the new five-acre port development project, is well underway. The first of two phases involves lengthening and widening the existing cruise pier, built in 1994.

When fully expanded this summer, the pier will be formidable, able to accommodate two 180,000-ton ships. That translates into mega passengers: 8,000 plus. Right now ships must tender passengers ashore into a construction zone, adjacent to a small dock suited for excursion boats. A fenced walkway leads to the taxi parking lot and the ten-minute walk into town.

When the landside phase is completed, new buildings will house the Royal Customs House and cruise terminal, tourist board welcome center, retail village with 40 shops, boat museum and waterfront swimming pool.

All of it is designed to impress cruise ship passengers (and cruise lines). Promotional materials state that Tortola Pier Park is timely, considering the growth of cruise tourism globally, and ensures the BVI stays up to date with the latest trends – increased passenger expectations and larger classes of ships.

Taxi drivers are pumped up about the prospect of bigger ships. It means more business for them. Presently there are 196 taxi drivers licensed to be at the pier to collect passengers, according to one driver waiting for guests to arrive ashore from a Silversea ship.

Tortola Pier Park is being marketed as “Gateway to Your Getaway.” Last year, more than 200,000 cruise passengers visited the BVI. Tortola is the largest and most populated of the scenic collection of islands that comprise this British overseas territory.

Source: Caribbean News Now