Carnival Corporation Announces Caribbean Community Projects
Carnival Corporation has announced a series of community projects supporting children, education and emergency preparedness in the Caribbean, the world’s most popular region for cruise vacations.
Carnival Corporation and several of its brands – AIDA Cruises, Carnival Cruise Line, Holland America Line and Princess Cruises – have been working with local and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including UNICEF and United Way of Miami-Dade and of Puerto Rico, to partner with several islands on community projects specifically tailored to their needs and designed to have a lasting impact.
The islands include the Caribbean destinations of Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, the British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Puerto Rico, St. Maarten, Turks and Caicos Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The community improvement projects have been part of a significant donation from Carnival Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Carnival Corporation, along with the company’s brands, the Miami HEAT Charitable Fund, and the Micky and Madeleine Arison Foundation to provide up to $10 million in funding and in-kind support.
In addition to the community projects, Carnival Corporation brands continue sailing to these islands as part of the company’s leading Caribbean presence, delivering great vacations to millions of guests while also providing sustained tourism activity with a significant impact on the region’s economic growth and prosperity.
In total, the company has eight brands sailing regularly to these eight destinations, including 49 ships scheduled to make over 1,000 calls to 13 ports, totaling an estimated 2.9 million passenger movements expected for full-year 2018.
And, overall in the Caribbean, Carnival Corporation and its brands are expected to make over 5,000 port calls across the entire Caribbean region in 2018, visiting 58 ports in 28 different countries and territories.
“We met with local leaders to determine specific ways we could be most helpful, and we saw common themes emerge – support was needed for children, education and future emergency preparedness,” said Marie McKenzie, vice president of global ports and Caribbean government relations. “We collaborated with several of our leading cruise brands that have a significant presence in the Caribbean to develop programs that would address common areas of need.”
Working closely with affected islands and local and international NGOs, Carnival Corporation has designed projects tailored to address the identified community needs with a sustainable, long-term impact.
In addition to the above efforts, Carnival Corporation is directing funding toward general UNICEF social programs in Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, and the British Virgin Islands that support education in the region.
As the world’s largest cruise market, the Caribbean is a key region for the entire cruise industry and continues to drive strong demand from consumers who want to enjoy a cruise vacation in one of the most unique and beautiful travel destinations in the world.
According to a recent study commissioned by the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association, the cruise industry’s annual economic impact topped $3.4 billion in direct spending in the past year, supporting nearly 80,000 jobs and $911.1 million in employee wages across only 36 Caribbean destinations that were analyzed as part of the research.
Source: RusTourismNews
