New Rules For Cruise Ship Handling At Port Victoria As New Season Starts
DMC’s, tour operators and taxi operators will have to abide by a new set of rules when entering the port of Victoria to receive and drop off cruise ship passengers.
Tour operators in particular, but also taxi operators, are said to be deeply unhappy about DMC’s being given preferential access to the port, two hours ahead of the rest of the tourism fraternity while taxi drivers oppose the rule that only a handful of taxis could be parked near the ship/s at a time.
One taxi operator known to this correspondent, in fact, alleged that this will substantially increase waiting time for passengers with a limited time on shore as taxis could only enter, in his words: ‘Like a drop of water on a hot stone‘.Curio sellers have apparently also taken issue with less than a dozen of them being given permission to sell their wares when passengers get off the ship or back on it, suggesting that the new rules were perhaps not fully consulted and have certainly raised opposition against them amongst those most harshly affected.
The Seychelles are expecting almost 50 cruise ships this season, a major shot in the arm for the tourism industry and the country can hardly afford to antagonize key service providers whose goodwill is essential to smoothly handle disembarking and embarking cruise ship passengers.
