Tourism Strategy

Sustaining Competitive Edge

The Ministry and Department of Tourism have agreed a strategy to reintroduce cruise and stay-over tourism in a sustainable manner. The strategy will balance the need to maintain employment and the need to reopen when Grand Cayman is ready to receive visitors. It will also preserve its reputation as a highly desired tourism destination.

The strategy calls for a sufficient mix of product availability — ranging from accommodations, attractions, restaurants, transportation, retail shops, water sports and beaches, to public facilities and infrastructure. In this pursuit, we aim to preserve our products at the historically high, Cayman Islands’ quality standard.

With this goal in mind, we will gradually reopen tourism, beginning in November. The return to Grand Cayman’s pre-hurricane capacity will take some time and, in the case of stay-over tourism, will likely occur in the second quarter of 2005. These dates may continue to be adjusted as businesses report either greater progress than was anticipated or where they report greater damage than initially assessed.

In addition to receiving progress reports from businesses, the Department of Tourism and other agencies are conducting independent site inspections to ensure that tourism-related businesses are complying with quality standards.

Ultimately, Cayman aims to emerge from this setback in an even more competitive position than before the hurricane. This will require some time and a great deal of effort by both the public and private sectors. Still, there is a real opportunity to enhance the overall physical product and the general level of service delivery.

The Department of Tourism has seized every opportunity to announce to the travel community that two of the three Cayman Islands remain open for tourism. This message has been supported with advertising that specifically focuses on the Sister Islands.

The Minister of Tourism, the Hon. McKeeva Bush, will provide a full update on the recovery next week. This will include specific updates on the industry’s progress to date, and goals as we go forward.