The Mayor of St. George’s Mariea Caisey, has thrown her support behind the idea of having mega yachts visit the East End town rather than cruise ships.

Government announced the results of the Cruise Ports Study at a public meeting on Wednesday and revealed it was considering turning St. George’s into a mega yacht port, while two huge cruise ships would visit the Dockyard area at the same time.

Ms. Caisey said: “This idea wasn’t something that was new to me. I agree with the concept and we are working with Government to see what other means of revenue we can get in our town.”

The study showed that Bermuda would face huge financial costs and significant environmental damage if attempts were made to enlarge the navigational channels at Town Cut in St. George’s and Two Rock Passage near Hamilton to fit larger cruise ships.

Ms Caisey reiterated her preference that Town Cut not be widened and said she did not believe businesses in St. George’s would suffer financially if the town lost its dedicated cruise ships. “We are still going to have our docks available and we will never get rid of the access to the docks just in case a ship does want to come here.

“There are small cruise ships that go to Europe and they may be able to visit St. George’s while the larger ships go to Dockyard.”

She believes the mega yacht port concept could potentially generate significant revenue and said mega yachts would be inclined to visit St. George’s on a regular basis if Government relaxed the 21-day travel limit for visiting yachtsmen.

“We do have mega yachts on our docks. Sometimes the owners leave the yachts in Bermuda and the crew members take care of it.

“So in the long-term it is revenue for our community because that is money that is being used in restaurants, grocery stores and transportation,” she said.

Ireland Island North’s King’s Port would be expanded to accommodate an extra berthing sport, which would enable two huge cruise ships to visit at the same time rather than just one as is the case today.

As this picture shows, the cruise ships would berth one in front of the other at the north spar at King’s Port.

The Shadow Minister for Tourism David Dodwell said he generally agreed with the idea of having two large ships berth in the West End at the same time, however he said he did not think St. George’s should be left without a dedicated ship.

“I think it is a good idea, however Government should not forget about the smaller cruise ships. I think St. George’s can still be serviced by smaller ships,” he said.