Fort Charlotte closure presents challenge amidst record cruise season

Minister of Tourism, Carlos James has acknowledged the inconvenience that the closure of Fort Charlotte will cause as the country prepares to welcome an increased number of vessels for the upcoming cruise season.

Speaking at a press conference on Friday, October 6 at the Cruise Ship terminal in Kingstown, Minister James announced that for the 2023/2024 season, there are expected to be 377 cruise calls.

He said this number represents a 17.5 per cent increase over last year when there were 311 cruise calls. The port calls are broken down as follows- 116 calls for large vessels to Kingstown; 100 calls to Bequia; 28 to Union Island; 67 calls to Mayreau; 61 calls to Tobago Cays and five calls to Canouan.

The Minister said he has heard the rumblings about the disruption that the closure of the Fort will cause, however, he noted, it was out of the control of his Ministry.

“Though Fort Charlotte falls under the Ministry, we are not the body that is responsible for the existing program that facilitated its closure.

“The repair of the Fort Charlotte is being done under a World Bank funded project. There are certain timelines in terms of procurement that the World Bank has set that we must follow to complete the project… they [contractor] will come in and determine the schedule, procurement guidelines, all of these details are guided by the World Bank.”

“I would have been happy if that project was done over the summer period outside of the cruise season, but guided by the World Bank in terms of procurement rules,” the Minister told taxi operators who attended Friday’s press conference.

The restoration work was announced by the Minister of Finance last year and is expected to be done at an estimated cost of between US$1.7 and US$2 million.

Taxi operators said while they are looking forward to the increased business to come during this cruise season, a number of them raised concerns about the condition and availability of some tourist sites, saying that for too long they have gone without upkeep and have since fallen into a “shameful” state.

At the top of the list for sites that need to be improved was the Wallilabou anchorage where the set of Pirates of the Caribbean movie is housed and also the Belmont Lookout.

Minister James disclosed that the Tourism Ministry and the Ministry of Transport and Works would be working together to identify sites where remedial work needs to be done on roads leading to the sites.

He pointed out that the Wallilabou anchorage is located on private property and repairs are up to the owner. He added the Ministry is open to discussions about improving and rehabilitating the site.