BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — When a cruise ship stops at Port Canaveral, there are plenty of shuttles to beach-side activities that passengers planned in advance, but there's almost nothing to do at the Port itself.
WFTV found out Monday that Port officials are trying to change that.
Research shows, when ships make a port of call, passengers can spend $123 a day. With 400,000 passengers just coming in for a single day, that adds up to lots of money that tourists could be leaving there.
About 130 times a year, cruise ships pull into Port Canaveral to stop for a port of call on the way from New York or Baltimore to the Caribbean.
Thousands of passengers get off the ships to take shore excursions, from Orlando to Cocoa Beach, but very few head to the Port's own entertainment district, The Cove.
"They want to walk around, look at the water, but that's pretty much all they can do, and then get back on the cruise ship," said Rhett Fisher, Rusty's Seafood.
The Port is considering adding the one missing element: shopping. Many other ports of call take advantage of tourists looking for local souvenirs.
"We do have a lot of local artists that are looking to show their wares to these cruise ship passengers that are coming. Unfortunately, we don't have that venue to expose them to," said Margaret Bodchon, Sunward Tours.
Passengers can already eat for free on the ships and they need something else to draw them to the area.
"Missed opportunity completely. There's plenty of land, plenty of room out here to get new vendors to come out here, set up a tent and sell their merchandise," Fisher said.
Some say, if done right, The Cove's unique location has the potential to rival Downtown Disney or Universal City Walk. The Port is looking to start small with a market resembling a street fair, at first, which has local entrepreneurs excited.
"There's nothing here, the Merritt Mall is kinda far away, Viera is kinda far away," entrepreneur Alex Brendell said.
Proponents are hoping, by starting out with a street fair or tent concept, they can get a homegrown bazaar up and running without much if any cost to the Port or taxpayers and get it going before the end of the year to cash in on all the cruise ships planning ports of call there.
WFTV
