Don’t let tourists drift

That foghorn should be a wake-up call for the entire borough. The arrival
of the world’s largest passenger ship — and the debarkation
of thousands of wealthy tourists — is a historic moment that Brooklyn
must not let slip by.

As our own Gersh Kuntzman and Ariella Cohen discovered as they interviewed
sea-weary travelers leaving the ship last
Saturday, virtually none had any intention of exploring the borough where
their massive boat was moored. Instead, they hopped right onto waiting
buses that whisked them into Manhattan, where they could spend their money
on Fifth Avenue.

Hey, there, big spender: Brooklyn has a pretty lively Fifth Avenue, too!

While we’re not so naïve that we expect Brooklyn to be a cruise
tourist’s dream vacation, the borough did expect — and must
now demand — that the city tourism-industrial complex do much more
to promote Brooklyn to the million passengers who will arrive here this
year. Yes, Bloomingdale’s is “like no other store in the world,”
but that doesn’t mean a few tourists can’t be encouraged to
spend some money at Luce on the Hook, one of the closest boutiques to
the Queen Mary’s new home.

Borough President Markowitz will put Brooklyn-savvy, map-wielding volunteers
at the terminal whenever boats come and go — and that’s a great
start. But it’s no substitute for an aggressive campaign that actually
puts cruise ship passengers on a bus tour of our borough.

Cunard officials said they are open to the idea, but that means Brooklyn
needs to do the hard work itself. A good idea would be for the Brooklyn
Marriott to make special deals with passengers beginning or ending their
QM2 trips — but when The Brooklyn Papers called the hotel to see
what was in the works, a spokesman said that nothing was.

Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised. After all, this is a borough that
still does not have — despite all the confused tourists wandering
aimlessly around Cadman Plaza Park — a decent sign leading people
to the footpath of our main tourist attraction, the Brooklyn Bridge.