Nantucket Business Leaders Visit New Bedford

Members of the Nantucket Chamber of Commerce visited New Bedford on Friday to meet with their counterparts in the Whaling City.

Rick Kidder, President and CEO of the New Bedford Area Chamber of Commerce, told WBSM's Brian Thomas that the meeting will be an opportunity for both groups to begin building a working relationship.

"It's an opportunity to meet with some of the folks from our city, our economic development people, our tourism people, share some experiences and begin the process of building some bridges so that our business community and the Nantucket business community can perhaps find ways of working with each other," said Kidder.

Kidder also called the Seastreak Ferry service linking New Bedford and Nantucket an opportunity for the city that will be enhanced by cooperation between the two business communities.

"When people come to Nantucket, and they're coming to New Bedford to pick up the Seastreak to go there, they have two choices to make," said Kidder "they can either come and just jump on the ferry and leave, in which case we don't get to import any of their dollars, or they can come and stay...They can spend a day in New Bedford while they're staying in Nantucket, come over and see this great community. But if the folks in Nantucket don't know what we have, what our assets are, then they don't have a way of reccomending staying in New Bedford."
Kidder says that a delegation from the New Bedford is planning a trip to the island in August for a meeting with their Nantucket counterparts.