Tourism Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar said that the government has released to public domain the request for proposal for the Prince George Dock.

He said that this will transform the Prince George Wharf  into a premier cruise destination in the Caribbean.

He added that the real challenge is not  getting more tourists here,  but getting them to spend more money here.

“There  are  91 under constructions right now, so cruise ships are looking for additional parts that are bigger;  so we need to expand our facilities here to accommodate additional cruise ships. But it’s not just getting the bodies here, it giving them something to spend their money on when they get here, that’s the real tough nut to crack.

“We need to figure out how to get them to come off the ships and to spend money in our country and were hoping that with that redevelopment it would expand their number of retail options for them and also the number of food and beverage options.

“We’re hoping that with this significant investment in the port that it will start to move to Bay Street and start to bring about a transformation in the quality of offerings on Bay Street,” said the Minister.   

Mr. D’Aguilar added that the government has cut out incentives to cruise lines that visit The Bahamas.

“We’ve  scrapped all those incentives; we don’t have any incentives anymore. We’re  not paying any cruise line to come here, they should want to come here; there should be something wonderful for them to be here.

“If  you think  about it,  God has geographically blessed  The Bahamas. We are the closest  port to the largest cruise ports  in the world which is Miami, Ft. Lauderdale and Canaveral.  So if you’re going on a three day cruise, then you are coming to Nassau.  So I don’t  think there needs to be incentives,” he said.    

Around 3.6 million cruise passengers visit the Bahamas yearly, and the Tourism Minister said the Port is expected to be redeveloped by 2022.