Public questions Cayman’s capacity for tourism
Cruise ship passengers getting on a tender vessel in George Town Harbour, Grand Cayman
(CNS): A number of concerns about the future direction of the tourism product in Cayman, its impact on the community and infrastructure, and who is really benefiting from the record-breaking growth were just some of the issues that were raised by members of the public at a meeting hosted by the ministry and Department of Tourism Wednesday. Issues raised included the capacity of the island, where cruisers would go as hotels take over the beaches, the impact of new hotel developments at the southern end of West Bay Road and Dart’s plans for his growing land acquisitions along Seven Mile Beach.
The question about capacity and the optimum number of cruise visitors remained unanswered but Minister Moses Kirkconnell told the public that as the ministry shaped the next five-year national plan for tourism, encouraging visitors to go further afield from Seven Mile Beach and experience other attractions in the eastern districts would be a key component.
During the meeting, Tourism Director Rosa Harris laid out the details of the continued success and growth that Cayman has enjoyed year on year over the last several years in both overnight and cruise tourism.
She outlined the goals of the next five-year plan, which is focusing on getting more locals involved in the business, such as training school-leavers at the hospitality college to a potential fund, and providing loans and support for Caymanians wanting to set up business and feed the tourism sector, supporting potential sustainable entrepreneurs.
Harris spoke about the need to decentralize tourism from around the George Town – Seven Mile Beach area and the need to enhance the cultural product of the destination by re-positioning Cayman artisans, food and heritage.
However, the plan was very short on specifics about how Cayman would continue to cope with the challenges to its infrastructure as Kirkconnell admitted it was lagging behind given the growth in the sector.
There was no information coming from the officials about the impact of the upcoming hotel development around George Town in light of the cruise berthing project or the planned upgrades to George Town. This is against the backdrop of record cruise numbers, as Cayman continues to be the port of preference on changed itineraries impacted by last season’s hurricanes.
Many people in the audience welcomed the growth in tourism but they were all concerned that Cayman may be reaching its capacity, given the current state of the infrastructure and the lack of past sustainable planning.
Representatives from CITA and members of the public both raised concerns about the failures by past governments to implement plans to manage the tourism situation. Several people emphatically said that Cayman should still be focusing on overnight guests rather than the high impact but low return of the cruise business.
The issue of how the development by overseas investors, often given very generous terms and conditions, helps locals in the business was raised by several people. Local activist Billy Adam, in particular, lamented the decisions by a previous administration to waive the fees and taxes developers should be paying and the loss of access to the beaches caused by what he considered poor deals executed by the government, with investors like the Dart Group, which saw Caymanians give up more and more without anything in return. He also warned that the tourism sector was responsible for importing some of the poverty now apparent here, as he pointed to the poor wages common in the industry.
The new tourism plan is still in the development phase and officials said that the goal of the meetings was to take feedback from the public to shape a plan that is based on the needs and wants of the people and tourism stakeholders. The next meeting will take place at the East End Civic Centre this evening at 6pm.
Category: Local News
Change is invevitable and should be welcomed…but planned….and clearly it’s not been well planned or regulated so far….but we need a new vision for Grand Cayman…dream big, create incredible economic growth with massive infrastructure over a 10/20/30 year plan – move the airport to the East with longer runways….dredge the north sound and bring the cruise lines in there…redevelop the current GT and revitalize it….create beaches for tourists along the south and eastern shores that match SMB (can be done…Dubai created whole Islands)…we just need vision and planning….enable construction of 30/40 storey tall hotels and condo towers….everywhere else is master planning and forging ahead….we’re the land that time forgot? that’s not as cool a thing as many think it would be….it’s code for poverty, economic downturn and collapsing finance and tourism sectors….let’s all benefit….let’s MAGA Cayman!! and we dont need any walls to do it….just some balls
There is no point having more cruise shippers come if no one makes any money from them. The cruise ship companies squeeze every last penny out of the local tour operators making it hard for them to survive. Stingray City tour operators receive as little as $10 per head for taking cruise shippers out to Stingray City. This does not leave them enough money to maintain their boats and to provide for their families. Why not set legal minimum pricing of say $30 per head? This would mean more of the cash staying on the island and better living standards for people involved in tourism. Perhaps the same time of minimum pricing could be used in other areas? No point having the cruise ships here if they are ripping everyone off and no one is benefitting!
Nothing is stopping the local tour operators from setting their own reasonable (for them) rates when they negotiate with the cruise ships. Except free market competition. Which is also why a lot of people would object to Govt. trying to legislate the cost of tours, etc.
I know of one operator who does not sell via the cruise ships for the reason you have cited. They can do better selling directly to tourists themselves. For the operators that choose to work with the cruise ships we can only assume that it works for them. If they wanted to act differently, its a free market, so they could act differently (lower or raise their rates) without being constrained by Govt. mandated price controls. Businesses compete on cost and service (primarily) by removing their ability to compete on cost you would make it difficult for new businesses to enter the market, especially the micro-businesses (me and a boat) that are an important segment of the sandbar (North Sound Boat Tour) business fraternity. Or for businesses to react to the market during a tourism downturn. (Less customers available means lowering your rates, or increasing your services, as even if you make less profit its better than having no customers. Just like a grocery store advertising their weekly specials.)
You obviously have no idea how much power the cruise ships have over vendors. At EVERY island they stop in.
They have put people out of business on this island. I know of a photographer that they would not allow on board because they wanted to bring their own photographer and threatened the boat operator to drop them if they did not cooperate. I know this for a fact.
That’s the point many against the piers are making. The cruise ships don’t let passengers bring booze and food on-board either. They have to spend their money on the ship. In any event the majority of cruise ships calling here are bargain bucket all inclusive tours meaning the passengers don’t buy diamonds and pearls, and don’t spend much if any money at the ports of call.
I tried to book a staycation family meeting and boat trip to dinner at Rum Point last month. Was shocked when I went to reserve and pay, but was told that they don’t accept cash. Only credit cards. I could have gone and arranged it but with the hassle of multiple cards etc we just changed plans. Local clients usually seem discouraged from using services.. So to Miami it is then!!
Have to say I have been very shocked recently as been trying to arrange a visit to Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac through my travel agent here in the UK. We are very excited to visit your islands. The hotels have been less than helpful in accomodating bookings and Cayman Brac is frankly almost impossible to book anything. The hotels just don’t want to know. One hotel quoted an astronomical amount for a 3 night stay (over UK£3,000) and then was insisting we pay in full, nine months in advance! I’ve never in all my 50 years of travelling been asked to do that.
The agent here in the UK has told me that a friend of hers lived in the Cayman Islands for ten years and wanted to become a Cayman holiday specialst but the hotels and tourist attractions were so unhelpful, she gave up and now works somewhere else. She wanted to send you clients!
Come on Cayman, get your act together! We want to come to visit you, to support you with spending our money in your hotels, in your attractions on your beautiful islands. We want to support your economy and improve employment levels through toursim. I hope you manage to sort yourselves out because othersiwe we will all go elsewhare which is such a shame for Cayman Islands.
With best wishes from a very frustrated potential tourist…
Hmm… others don’t have your problems….
i just went online and easily found hotels with reasonable prices and they didn’t ask to pay anything in advance…
There is nothing reasonably priced in Cayman! The hotel prices are astronomical, then they charge that ridiculously priced tourist tax on top. They also take $400 out of your credit card for a 2wk stay incase you might charge a meal and do a runner. They already have your credit card number they should not be allowed to take any cash out if it unless needing to. You have to wait a week then after your holiday for it to be credited back into your card. As much as I love Cayman and I lived there for 20yrs, the island is a rip off!! This is why Brits visit Jamaica, Barbados, Cuba etc., instead.
I am not sure whether the head of the DOT or Moses have been thinking about what is happening on Seven Mile Beach and the access to public spaces not only for visitors but for residents as well.
Within in a year or so DART will have closed the Royal Palms to start his new hotel leaving us just Governors and Public Beach as places to accommodate large numbers of visitor especially cruise shippers. Where will the people go? None of the Condos or hotels on the beach want anyone there but their own guest, and who can blame them? What kind of message will this send to our visitors? Go East and find a private beach?? That is ridiculous based on the distance, traffic and the time wasted getting there, not to mention most visitors come here for Seven Mile Beach..I guess the good thing is traffic on Seven Mile Beach will diminish if the people particularly cruise shippers have nowhere to go..
Why hasn’t Government looked into reclaiming some of the leased property in the future to utilize for beach space for our visitors? Is there any plan for buying or leasing any of the few parcels of open land left on Seven Mile Beach?
Moses and Rosa..this is directed to you…(not that I am expecting a response other than the vagueness that they put out ot the public that they are looking at going East) Absolute Rubbish and Hogwasah, remember Chuckie with the Go East Initiative…nada, zip, nothing…Start thinking and planning Rosa and Moses..
Why do you speak for visitors when the article is about locals? Beach space for locals, peace and quiet for locals, roads for locals, NOT en masse transient visitors who leave garbage and waste, congest roads, pollute environment and create noise. 5-18k toilet flushes, plastic bottles, cups, straws A DAY! Imagine that!
Revenue stream from financial sector properly managed would eliminate needs for mass tourism.
Losing public beaches to hotels and condos is a real tragedy for this island.
Visitors are polluting your environment? Really.?.? Great changes will be a struggle in Cayman as long as that short-sighted tunnel-vision exists. Ok, so is that the reason why the Government (or all the local environmentally conscious locals) choose NOT to clean up beaches that are outside the tourist eye? You know, the ones they NEVER visit. No?? Go ahead, blame someone else. It’s OK…it’s the Cayman way
7.23am your island relies on tourism to make a living! So please don’t knock it. I would love to be back living there in the safe environment it used to be. I never had to lock my door or car. Cayman will never be like that again. You have to move on with the times. Your economy has grown massively and it’s all down to tourism.
Actually we rely on financial services for more than 50%. Tourist revenue, especially cruise ships really is not a prime driver of the economy. In the words of Jude Scott:
“We were able to show government that they spend twice as much on tourism as they do on financial services. And for every dollar they spend on financial services, they roughly receive around $18 from financial services. Comparably with tourism, they receive less than $2 in revenue”.
12.30pm … well well you wondering how/where the tourist will go to get beach access? The tourist have taken over the Spotts beach 27/7.
. That access/beach was purchased for the Savannah/New lands district. Advertising (explorer magazine) along with the front desk at the hotels/condos etc send them there to swim with the turtles!!!!. Now guess what….the turtles are gone, it everyone guess what happened to them.
We need to start placing more emphasis on Caymanians and our way of life…. how much more are we expected to give up?
I agree with you about Spotts. The police are always trying to move on locals on public beaches too, discouraging them from using the cabanas “because of the tourists” whatever that means. This really isn’t fair. Cayman is no longer for those who live here it seems. Very sad.
Good luck in the East. The beaches are covered in seagrass and trash all year round because the government doesn’t give diddly squat.
I’m a Caymanian that cruises annually. On one of my cruises, Cayman was a port of call. The tendering was a terribly slow process but the chaos and cramped area on the dock was AWFUL…..worst I’ve seen. It is WAY smoother in every other port I’ve been to! There were so many complaints about this on our ship!!!
LOL. Try again
I too have stopped in Cayman on a ship (I live here) I had a totally different experience with none of the issues you stated.
The only complaint I had was the sour look on the faces of the tendering staff. They should remember that they are the first face that a cruise tourist sees and should be smiling and welcoming.
My 80+ parents visit me here on cruises. Despite being infirm and being tendered on choppy waters they had no problems at all, and are firmly against your ghastly port plans. I was speaking to cruise ship passengers near Royal Palms the other day. They were all against the new piers…. and this was a coach load.
How does the Government propose to get the tourists to the NS and EE districts? Via Shamrock Road / Bodden Town (BT) Rd.? Has anyone in the government come to BT – they can sit at the Guard House Hill picnic area – and listened to the noise level from the quarry trucks going back and forth down the road every minute or observed that absolutely no one drives 25 mph at anytime of the day??
Unless you like listening to the bladder brakes that are used by the semi’s approaching Guard House Hill and cars and motorcycles flying down the road at + 40mph then the air is anything but harmonious. It doesn’t appear that the trucks use the bypass road. Wasn’t the road built for the trucks to travel on instead of the main Bodden Town road?
BT road is too narrow and too well traveled by neighbors on foot for this amount of traffic to be driving through the residential area at more than 25 mph. Perhaps the bumps in the road should be relocated from the bypass road to BT road? Do companies believe that a few bumps and minutes are going to impact schedules that much? After all we’re all on a tiny island! Where is everyone going in such a hurry?
Yes Debra. After driving past Savannah is like going back into the stone age.. Not even Street lights in BT to EE and NS!!
@8.57 on the other hand street lights create light pollution. Be careful what you wish for.
Too many people here that’s the problem…
We were probably having yet another power outage. We get a lot of those out here in the bush.
Just build the dock before we start losing all our tourists. We lucky to get more after the hurricane destroyed those eastern islands. Just helps us keep some good business until we get the airport and dock finished.
Residents first, then visitors!
“encouraging visitors to go further afield from Seven Mile Beach and experience other attractions in the eastern districts would be a key component.”
STOP, STOP, STOP! No more or I will have to bring my camping gear to work. It’s already almost a 2 hour commute from NS & EE and no matter where you live over this side you have to deal with the dreaded gridlock at Hurleys.
No more traffic to the East until you build a Hurleys Bypass or Flyover. Dump the stupid dock and spend less money resolving the misery that we, the people who live here are having to endure.
What Dart did for WB traffic is long overdue this side of town too. Have a heart CIG.
Ya boy, traffic situation in West bay sure has changed. Now if we could get all the unemployed off the streets things might be looking up
This. This is so well put. Tourism is booming, so they say. Do not build a dock to make a transient person more comfortable for the 2-3 hours they may be on island. Please do something for the people who LIVE here. I could not agree more with the above statement. You, dear person, should run for government in Cayman. Make it better! Do better! Demand change! Keep you voice being heard. People are hearing it!!
Glad to see that people are appreciating the DART West Bay Road. When the forward thinking elected leaders at the time were doing that there was protests and marches and court cases to keep the existing road for the view. The politicians of the day were almost tarred and feathered.
Lie. The new west Bay Road bypass was built by Arden as Minister.
Sort of funny as you haven’t heard much complaining about the new road in from West Bay lately. If that road work was tanked by those who wanted no change it would have remained the same old same old.
Sounds like I need to go into the sewage business! It all stinks! Where is the opposition?
Even our schools are over crowded from taking in people form the hurricanes last year, the overall numbers for tourists will surely drop in a couple months. We’re lucky that in between the airport being redone and the cruise dock coming to get a boost. Especially getting some of the ships back that had long left us.
The docks are supposedly for the new ships that are supposed to be replacing the ones we’re getting now, not ‘ships that have long left us’. Please try to get your stories straight before engaging in sycophantic babel.
The big ships have already been visiting. They said they would never come without a dock. Looks like that argument failed.
The big ship are not visiting. The medium size ships around 4000-4500 passengers are. Please tell me when a 6000 passenger ship visited and tourist got off. They stopped one or two times to let off sick people but not to disembark passengers. FYI i am not kirkbot so please Booden/Mcdoglebots stop spreading lies.
I thought we were going to be stuck with 3000 pax ships forever without the dock?
Sorry mate. Those medium sized have been visiting for years. For those of us who work in town every day have seen the mega ships in Port. Not to mention any visiting ships capacity can be checked on the Port Authority website the day they call. So it’s there in the records if you would like to check.
8.35pm you are correct … every thing and every where is OVER CROWDED. They all think we can solve their problems. Immigration where are you and the Prem.
Nothing ever changes! Ever. The tourism sector big title people say the same things and do the exact same things year over year! This year they are taking credit for a tourism windfall befalling Cayman due to hurricanes that shut the competition down! It is laughable. We need to start paying closer attention and start holding their feet to the fire in times like these. Make them accountable. They are floating el toro poo poo. Time to call them on it all. Enough is enough.
1 dollar invested in tourism brings back 2. 1 dollar invested in finance industry brings back 18.
> the ships themselves became destinations
> despite a range of provided tourism and hospitality jobs many of them are low-paid and hard
> Caribbean islands now exist only to service the floating hotels called cruise ships
> being a small and resource limited island, Grand Cayman vulnerable to negative environmental impacts
> high level of water and electricity consumption. tourists are using electrical appliances and air-condition systems which results in electricity over consumption
> the access to some beaches is reduced as many hotels tend to make the nearest beaches an exclusive area for the hotel guests only
>overcrowding and local people irritations and dissatisfaction about tourism
Residents start to question the presence of tourists and the need for a tourism industry, while the authorities are concerned with attracting more tourists
The most shocking thing about negative impacts of tourism on the environment is that tourism planners often are aware on the consequences, but do little or do nothing to prevent the negative impacts
The government should seriously think about the solid waste management, wastewater management, sewage treatment, wise use of potable water and energy
Cuba will take it all away in 10 years from now.
The hike in visitors us a result of the damage cost by the last hurricanes.
The DOT is aiming for the wealthy tourist , who will leave when crime is taking over.
7:24 is accurate but some refuse to believe. In about 20-30 years they’ll be talking about how nice Cayman USED to be
“decentralize tourism from around the George Town – Seven Mile Beach area”
All cruise shippers on odd number decks the beach, all those on even number decks East End, no swapping.
Obviously posted by someone that has never been on a cruise! People CHOOSE (and pay a pretty penny) to do excursions that they want to do!
I think they were trying to be ironic.
Please everyone just relax. Our Honorable Premier and the Unity team are working very hard to get all these issues right. They at least have a wonderful working relationship with the Dart organization so they can get things worked out. Would be nice though if the K group would help with things since they will benefit most from our new dock.
I for one don’t like it.
So, with all the proposed developments, such as those already approved by the CPA, where is all the s**t, sorry sewage, going??!! Better be careful it doesn’t end up in the beautiful torquoise waters of SMB and North Sound!!
Careful and prudent planning cannot exclude essential areas of infrastructure such as sewage disposal. However, our history with Mt. Trashmore does not suggest that wise and well researched solutions are anywhere near!! Just saying!
I would bet my month’s pay that Ministry of Tourism/DoT, CPA, DEH, DoE, NRA, etc. are not in sync!!
You have hit the nail on the head. There has been no planning of the infrastrure and none for many years. The traffic on West Bay Road can only get worse with more cruise ships and three new hotels being built within the first three miles of George Town. Has the CIG ever thought of this? Answer NO.
Oh dear, Kirkbots out in force again…they are trying a bit harder now, dressing it up as if they really care about Cayman rather than their own pockets. They don’t. The arguments and reports all show the dock to be a folly for the few, with no benefit to 95% of Caymanians, with possible disastrous environmental consequences. You can put lipstick on a pig, but its still a pig.
Most other destinations are begging for business. Funny how cayman seems to think they’re too well off and people should just be honored to flock to their shores. This boom likely won’t be sustained without good planning and more important execution to build the roads and docks that you need. Too many other sitting governemnts have failed to update your port infrastructure, hopefully they can do it this time around.
I thought all the dodo birds were extinct? Our success this year is due to the hurricanes that devastated other Caribbean islands, another pie in the sky idea to build the port and they will come or go east! Has anyone stop and think if we develop east end the same problems will occur that we are currently facing? What then? I guess the politicians will then be saying “go further east” straight to Cuba!
Cuba is north, fool.
Cuba is NE
Actually it is to the NW, N and NE
With the advent of crime and home invasion security measures will naturally evolve in Cayman. Just wait for the bars on windows and the gated communities already a feature along 7 mile beach.
Cayman got lucky from the devastation in other islands.
The boost in tourism from rebooked passengers in other destinations and the addition on extra cruise stops is a nice boom temporarily, but the island still needs to figure out how to secure long term growth in these markets. Only ways to do that are to finish the airport, add extra room stock in a couple of hotels and to build a pier to accept the newer ships. Should be a simple solution but politics and self interests of some people get in the way of the greater success.
100%
Fully agree
I can tell you one thing for sure if we don’t get our act together and get the dock moving and also fix our infrastructure to handle both types of tourists cayman is going to be the island that time forgot real soon
Cayman is the land that time forgot, no dock is going to fix that. Building more reasonably priced hotels and promoting beaches with independent licensed sunbeds and shades, with licensed vendors might help with the airbnb type tourism. Also making Georgetown user friendly/pedestrianised with more attractions and shade would also help.
If we have too many people here now why lower prices and encourage more. I say raise the price as much as we can and pay people more!
Rather than trying to raise the pay of people at hotels the poster was suggesting spreading the wealth/business to more people outside the traditional ‘big hotel’ (low paid staff) system. – Same outcome different way to skin the cat.
Have you been to other commercialized Caribbean islands?? They all look exactly the same, including Cayman!! Cayman has not been forgotten in the sense in which you speak. Cayman has blended in seamlessly. Absolutely nothing to make it stand out. Overpriced. Concrete jungle.
NOT the culinary capital. NOT the safest place in the Caribbean. Probably is the most expensive and overrated.
Cayman is experiencing a record year but it will be short lived. All of the over night bookings and extra cruise calls are all a part of the fallout from the hurricanes on the eastern Caribbean. by 2019 everything will start falling back to the old numbers and the whole tourism industry will be crying. If they don’t get the dock moving there will be a completely different headline in the news than one like this worrying about too many tourists.
Don’t worry Billy all of the other Caribbean islands are happy to have the tourism that you don’t want.
They have no intention of involving the public in this issue, they had ample opportunity to include it as a ballot initiaive or impromptu referendum
They have no interest in your opinion
They don’t care what you think on the issue
They have been trying to do this for years and they will get it done no matter what
Diogenes , is completely right in saying that they don’t care about you and your opinion . I have heard DOT and Government saying the same thing many years ago , we want to hear from the public , and we’re going to do this and that to help Caymanians get into Tourism .
I agree that there should be a Tourism plan put into action , but it shouldn’t take 5 years to implement . But the blame game doesn’t fix the problems that exist in the Islands .
These aren’t viable plans. We need a better fact-finding methodology than polling the handful of public radio ignoramae that materialize for badly marketed district meetings.
Why is everything so secret with Moses K and PPM if these projects are so good for Cayman? The devil is always in the details but it seems like Government are afraid to share any specifics and the plans with the public? Public scrutiny is part of the public consultation process.
If the plans make sense and are well throughout that will benefit the masses Caymanians will support them. It would be usesful if DOT and Ministry could share information and provide details that are measurable for example:
What does the plan look like?
How much does it costs
Revenue projections?
Total costs of the plans and projects like the dock and airport?
How will CIG pay for these projects?
This is what transparency looks like but has been severely lacking from the Moses K Minister of Tourism, DOT and the UNITY government.
Has anyone mentioned carrying capacity study?
Also, look at Figure 2-4: Contributors to Government Revenues in the Miller/Shaw report.
http://www.gov.ky/portal/pls/portal/docs/1/7978053.PDF
Yes I did last nite and for several years now but cannot get a straight answer.We have to have a number that we can work to and from or we will be totally over run by too many cruise passengers.A balance between the two MUST BE FOUND.I did get a reply to my question re (if and when the dock is built)are we going to be satisfied with just 4 ships using the two docks(could be as many as 20,000 peeps coming ashore)and from what I gathered there will be at least two permanent moorings for as least 2 more ships.If my math is correct that could very well make it a 30,000 arrivals for cruisers.
Nobody takes someone who can’t even capitalise their own name seriously.
12:56 please go back to your toys. Draw something, anything, but please don’t produce offspring
Caymanians gave up more and more to Dart with nothing in return? Did I read that right? ETH, Camana Bay, Kimpton, all great places to visit. What is really missing is more beachside cafes and restaurants with sheltered sunbed facilities for all pocket ranges…All that’s left right now is Royal Palms and Hemingways. I am with the stayover tourism people. We need more reasonable price hotels, perhaps even some all inclusives.
100%
What’s going on with that place on south church by the gas tanks? Blue iguana or something? Always was packed with people staying. Was reasonably priced and I liked the bar!
Blue Parrot. Great place. Destroyed by a storm decades ago. Sunset House still does well though.
Yeah the caymanian people own too. Dart gets all the benefits. The Dartbots on here too.
And dread to think what might happen to Royal Palms… it’s an institution that EVERYONE can go to and feel welcomed. Please Dart, leave it as it is, don’t take away one of the last things remaining for ALL of us and not just the privileged.
We also need what we were promised for public beach area. Which looks a complete mess for years.
‘great places to visit’
You must be joking; overpriced American concrete monstrosities.
Did I read right, the ETH (Esterly Tibbetts Highway) is a great place to visit? Now I think I see why we have a disconnect about what is ‘good’ and what is ‘bad’ for locals & tourism alike.
Kimpton … half a months rent for one night stay, um…. Don’t think so. But I did enjoy visiting that beach before they built the Kimpton. CBay? Where even the simplest thing costs an arm and a leg, and only the affluent can afford to shop there. ETH? A “great place to visit” ? Are you tripping?