The row at Port Zante over an incentive programme between some merchants and taxi and tour operators continued on Freedom Fm’s ISSUES on Tuesday with the appearance of Rajesh from Royal Gems and Taxi Driver Austin Edinborough. .
Royal Gems says they are seeking legal advice over moves by the Tourism Authority to prohibit them from offering incentives to taxi and tour operators and vendors through a wristband arrangement that drives potential customers to their business.
Rajesh told a captive Issues audience that “several merchants have tried to portray the problem to ministry of tourism that the taxi drivers are harassing tourists using the wristbands and coupons that we provide to them. We are not challenging the ministry of tourism or other merchants on port zante as we too wish to have visitors visit our island and have a pleasant and enjoyable shopping experience in port zante. We are challenging the principle of a new law that will prohibit a merchant from advertising our business with a local tour operator.”Rajesh asserted Insert here
Meanwhile Austin Edinborough maintained that the ministry is seeking to arbitrarily defy how merchants at port zante should market their products to the detriment of the merchants and taxi drivers. Edinborough said it is unfair for Minister Grant and the tourism ministry to criminalize the product by taking away the marketability of taxi drivers and tour operators to make a decent living at Port Zante. Edinborough says it is the market that determines the results and government must provide the environment for free and fair business practices at the port. (Insert at 21 mins in)
The Minister of Tourism while speaking to the media recently said he is preparing to go to Parliament to shore up regulations to prohibit Port Zante merchants from solicitation practices that he says are threatening the destination. “There have been numerous complaints by the cruise lines, in fact every single time we meet with the cruise lines this has been a talking point and we are not prepared to continue with this because what the cruise lines have said if we don’t get out acts together they will do what they have to do which is pull the ships and I am certain that the taxi drivers, the vendors, the general public who would be affected by that would not want that so we are trying to protect the livelihood of the persons in the industry to make sure it’s protected, so that is all we are doing”Grant had said. Merchants at Port Zante have been given a final warning from the Tourism Authority about breaching no solicitation regulations.
Meanwhile Chesley Hamilton called in to Freedom’s Issues show to indicate that the issue is about what is commercial speech in terms of advertising. He says if merchants prefer to spend their money with promotions via taxi and tour operation by the provision of a wrist band identification over payment of 8% of his gross sales, which some of the merchants are doing. Hamilton says there is something fundamentally wrong with this policy. He says it is a free niche market and government should not be using a big stick to muzzle free enterprise. Laywer Chesley Hamilton speaking on Issues Tuesday. 1.27 to 1.29