Despite recent unrest in the country and serious security issues concerning the safety of visitors to the country, Venezuela’s hedonist holiday island of Margarita has been included in the Caribbean itineraries of a number of cruise lines this season. Alan Lam reports.
On 26 October, over 680 passengers on Oceania Cruises’ Insignia will be the first cruise ship of the present season to call at the island’s Puerto Internacional El Guamache. There will be four further ship calls in November and seven in December. The port has 40 confirmed calls between now and April 2015. The Venezuelan season will end on 10 April with the anticipated call by the new Le Ponant of Ponant Yacht Cruises.
Tourism is vital to the economy of the island, which has suffered a severe decline in recent years owing to the country’s perceived worsening security situation. A number of visitors to Margarita have been mugged and even murdered.
Venezuela’s Minister of Tourism, Andrés Izarra, and the Governor of Margarita, Carlos Mata Figuerosa, recently met with port operators to discuss ways of facilitating the much needed cruise tourism to the island.
According to the Governor, the authorities will put all the necessary security measures in place to safeguard cruise tourists during their stay.
The security measures will include deployment of tourist security personnel from 8 am to 6 pm throughout the designated routes where cruise tourists are channeled.
Ostensibly these measures are as much for the safety and security of the locals as for the tourists. They are also designed to prevent such virus as Ebola from entering the country via international cruise ships.
Ebola has just become a major issue for cruise business in the Caribbean. On 17 October Carnival Cruise Lines’ Carnival Magic was prevented from calling at Cozumel by the Mexican authority on account of the ship carrying a quarantined Texas laboratory worker who had been involved in the care of an Ebola victim. This incident forced Carnival to reimburse more than 4,000 passengers $200 each and an offer of 50% discount for a future booking.
