St George’s businesses reported a much-needed boost with the arrival of visitors from the MS Veendam.The vessel anchored offshore on Wednesday, heralding the start of the cruise ship season for the East End.St George Mayor Kenneth Bascome said: “Those business people I have spoken to reported an increase in traffic and sales. Most seem pleased with today’s activities, and we hope it’s the beginning of an active and productive season.”Since the Veendam cannot dock in port, tourists were ferried into the Old Towne throughout the day from the ship’s position at Murray’s Anchorage.Anchoring offshore also means the Veendam’s stops at the East End are dependent on calm seas.Mr Bascome said: “We have been watching the tendering very closely to see if it will be successful. At the moment we are still at the mercy of the weather. If we did modernise Town Cut, the weather would have to be really adverse to keep a ship from docking. But we will just have to keep monitoring.”With over a thousand visitors brought in to St George’s over the course of the day, the White Horse Tavern reported a full house: “We’ve had a fantastic turnout ever since they started tendering this morning,” said operations manager Cathy Howarth. “It’s been a huge help to us.”The King’s Square restaurant, which had shut over the off season, opened again on March 19.Vera P Card manager Jan Card said the start of the season didn’t fix “the fact that times are hard”, but said: “It’s sure nice to see people and some ambience back in the town.“I went down to meet the tender bringing in passengers this morning. There was a prior service using one of the ferries that came in at about 9.30am, for people who had early bookings for shore excursions. About 250 people came ashore, but they just got on their buses and left.“I’d say we got 500 people coming in at 10.30am, and the same again at midday. These were people here to see the town.”The retailer’s anticipation of fresh business came with a caveat: travellers’ spending has yet to recover from the economic downturn.“It’s hard not to be disappointed with the amount of business,” Mr Card said. “People aren’t spending as much, but I can’t blame Marine and Ports for that. It’s up to me to make the sales. It’s understandable, given what’s going on in the US, that even those affluent enough to travel to Bermuda on a Holland America Line ship are not going to spend $600 on a ring. They’re more likely to buy a $150 ring instead.“What would be ideal would be to have a ship alongside. That would give us a chance of survival a ship moored in the port with 2,000 people aboard. Or, at the least, a vastly improved delivery system for bringing passengers from Dockyard.”Olde Towne Railway Tours reported a good day’s business. “I thought we had a bit of a late start,” tour operator Sharon Minors said. “But all in all it was pretty good.”The Veendam continued to Hamilton on Wednesday evening, and departed Bermuda yesterday.l Useful web link: www.marops.bm.