Raphael John-Lall
University of the West Indies (UWI) economist Professor Roger Hosein is convinced that cruise tourism can help diversify the economy and bring much needed foreign exchange into the country.
In an interview with the Business Guardian, he expressed the view that tourism supports T&T’s diversification strategy by bringing foreign demand directly into the local economy through spending on accommodation, transport, entertainment, food, culture and other services.
Unlike traditional merchandise exports, he said tourism exports are consumed within the domestic market, allowing the sector to create opportunities across agriculture, manufacturing, small businesses and the creative industries. Strengthening these linkages increases the multiplier effect and improves the economy’s ability to retain foreign exchange earnings.
“Within this framework, cruise tourism provides an opportunity to expand visitor flows and monetise T&T’s cultural, historical, ecological, culinary and entertainment assets. However, because cruise passengers spend limited time onshore, the sector’s contribution depends less on passenger numbers and more on increasing visitor yield. The strategic priority is, therefore, to convert cruise arrivals into higher expenditure, stronger local enterprise participation, employment creation, and sustainable foreign exchange generation,” he said.
Hosein referred to Government policy, saying expanding non-energy exports has become a central macroeconomic priority for T&T, as the economy seeks to strengthen external sustainability, ease balance of payments pressures, rebuild foreign exchange buffers and reduce dependence on hydrocarbons.
He said reflecting this challenge, the Ministry of Trade, Investment and Tourism has targeted an additional US$5 billion in non-energy exports of goods and services by 2030, requiring an increase from approximately US$3,071.8 million in 2025 to US$8,071.8 million by 2030.
“Achieving this ambitious target requires stronger growth in internationally competitive sectors, with tourism representing an important service export capable of generating foreign exchange, employment and deeper linkages with domestic firms,” Hosein said.
T&T trailing Caricom
According to data Hosein shared, from a T&T perspective, the information shows some improvement in cruise visitor value capture, with average spending increasing from US$42.58 per passenger in 2015 to US$58.68 in 2023/24, representing growth of 37.81 per cent.
He obtained the data from the World Tourism Organization, a specialised agency of the United Nations, which promotes responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism.
He said T&T remains well below the regional average of US$104.36 for cruise visitor value capture and significantly behind high-performing destinations such as St. Maarten (US$163.45), USVI (US$166.22), and St. Kitts (US$145.08).
“The evidence suggests that T&T’s main constraint is not only attracting more cruise passengers, but developing the retail, excursion, entertainment and commercial ecosystem needed to increase expenditure per visitor and strengthen foreign exchange capture.”
Based on the data, he concluded that from a T&T perspective, the data show that cruise tourism has remained largely stagnant while regional competitors have significantly expanded their cruise markets.
T&T cruise arrivals increased from 22,000 passengers in 1995 to 63,900 in 2025, but remain below the 2009 peak of 115,000, indicating limited long-term sector development.
In contrast, destinations such as Jamaica (605,000 to 2.6 million), Belize (8,000 to 967,200), and St. Kitts (127,000 to 925,300) achieved major structural growth by strengthening their cruise tourism ecosystems.
“The evidence suggests that T&T has not fully converted its cultural, historical, and environmental assets into a competitive cruise product. The policy challenge is therefore to reposition cruise tourism from a marginal activity into a stronger contributor to export diversification, employment and foreign exchange generation.”
He said the data suggest that the cruise sector is relatively effective at converting visitor flows into employment but remains constrained by very low passenger volumes.
Based on his data, T&T generates approximately 175 direct jobs per 100,000 onshore cruise visits, above Curaçao (122) and close to several larger cruise destinations, indicating reasonable labour absorption from existing activity.
However, with only 65,880 passenger visits and 115 direct jobs, the absolute economic impact remains small compared with destinations such as Jamaica and Barbados.
He then said the main policy challenge is therefore scaling cruise arrivals while maintaining strong employment linkages, so that growth translates into broader job creation, income generation and foreign exchange earnings.
Hosein said the evidence suggests that cruise tourism represents an underutilised opportunity within T&T’s broader non-energy export transformation agenda.
“While the sector will not replace the scale of the energy industry, it can become an important contributor to the country’s objective of expanding services exports, strengthening foreign exchange inflows and creating new sources of employment. Regional experience demonstrates that small Caribbean economies have successfully transformed cruise tourism into a meaningful economic activity by moving beyond passenger arrivals and focusing on visitor expenditure, destination experiences and stronger domestic business participation.”
He added that for T&T, the challenge is twofold.
“First, the country must increase cruise arrivals from historically low levels, given that passenger volumes remain below previous peaks and significantly behind regional competitors.
“Second, and more importantly, T&T must increase the value extracted from every visitor by lengthening time spent ashore, expanding locally controlled excursions, improving the port visitor experience, strengthening retail and entertainment offerings and linking cruise activity to food, culture, heritage, agriculture, and the creative industries. Ultimately, policy makers will need to quash cruise tourism policy and must shift from a volume strategy to a value strategy.”
He explained that every cruise passenger represents a temporary export market arriving directly on T&T’s shores.
“The economic opportunity lies in converting these short visits into higher spending, stronger local supply chains, sustainable jobs, and additional foreign exchange earnings. If properly structured, cruise tourism can become one component of the wider transition toward a more diversified, private-sector-driven, export-oriented economy.”
Toutism potential
Economist Dr Anthony Gonzales told the Business Guardian that T&T is as well-suited to benefit from tourism as the rest of its Caribbean neighbours.
“We have all the assets that are attractive to tourists: beaches, varied cuisine, many eco-tourism attractions, cultural and racial diversity, festivals, etc. We have not used them as we relied on oil and gas. Today we are now attempting to promote tourism but a lot still has to be done. We have to bring down the crime rate and undertake more marketing of T&T as a tourist destination.”
He added that cruise tourism would help and T&T has already made its first steps.
“We have quite a lot of goods and services that could be sold to cruise tourists so a significant part of the tourist spend should remain in T&T. We should aim to get a million visitors over the next five to 10 years up from the current number annually.”
He also encouraged the Government to build the necessary infrastructure to encourage this type of tourism.
“More hotels need to be built and we have to work with hotel owners, tour operators and airlines. The latter agents act in collaboration so we have to find a way to get them to turn their eyes on T&T and see how profitable their investments can be. The idea that we do not have a tradition of service should not stop us. People can be retrained and once they see how they can benefit from tourism they will improve on their service behaviour.”
