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(CNS): Tourism Minister Kenneth Bryan has said he would like to see a referendum on the idea of developing cruise port piers at the same time as people go to the polls for the general election in 2025 “to settle the question” once and for all. During his contribution to the budget debate on Monday, Bryan said that without berthing facilities, the cruise sector would go into decline as the cruise lines remain unwilling to tender large ships and the ships are getting bigger.
Despite the long-term expectation that stay-over tourism would continue to grow, that was not the case for the cruise sector, the minister said. “We can only avoid the elephant in the room for so long,” he told his parliamentary colleagues. “At some point, we have to address the fact that if we continue in the cruise business, we either have to be willing to accept the continual decline in passenger numbers… or reconsider our…
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