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October 9, 2007
deJongh: Meetings with cruise lines an important first step in building territory's cruise industry
Gov. John P. deJongh, Jr. returned to the territory Friday night having completed two days of meetings with officials of Royal Caribbean International and Carnival Corporation in Miami, Florida. The parent companies represent the majority of brands of cruise lines that call in the Virgin Islands. The meetings were aimed at areas of mutual interest and ranged from numbers of ship calls to St. Thomas, resumption of ship calls to St. Croix and issues revolving around the on-shore excursions and the passenger experiences. While these cruise lines of these two companies have booked their itineraries through the calendar year 2008, deJongh said he appreciated the open and frank discussion about the steps the Government must take in order for the lines to make a commitment, especially to returning daytime port of calls to St. Croix. "This was an important first step in the process and to build on the work what the West Indian Company and VI Port Authority have done with the various cruise brands. The opportunity to present a united team and outline our immediate and longer-term objectives as pertains to the cruise lines will be beneficial to all the islands and our business activities." deJongh was joined at the meetings by Port Authority Executive Director Darlan Brin; VIPA Board Chairman Robert O’Connor, Jr; West Indian Company Ltd. President and CEO Edward Thomas; WICO board member Alda Monsanto; Paul Arnold who oversees Economic Development on St. Croix for the government and members of the Administration’s senior staff. "These discussions will continue over the next several days as Tourism Commissioner Beverly Nicholson-Doty and WICO President and CEO Edward Thomas, are attending a conference of the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association meetings in Cozumel. There will definitely be immediate follow-up to firm up some commitments and give some certainty to growth in our markets," deJongh said. deJongh said Tuesday he plans to initiate similar talks with representatives of other cruise lines whose ships call on the Virgin Islands. |
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