Ministry finds extra $4.9M to prop up tour operators
(CNS): The government is continuing to prop up tourism-related businesses until visitor numbers return to more sustainable levels, according to a release from the Ministry of Investment, Innovation and Social Development. As well as maintaining the direct stipend payments to over 2,000 displaced workers, the ministry has found money from the current budget to keep tourism-related businesses afloat.
During a Finance Committee meeting in March, MPs approved funds for the March payments to people on the Displaced Tourism Employees Stipend Programme and the Tourism Recovery Grant Programme.
According to the release, the committee also approved additional funding of $4.9 million for the business stipend and asset grant programme for Wildlife Interaction Zone (WIZ) land and watersports operators, and the other tourism-related micro and small businesses.
The new money will be paid out by the Cayman Islands Centre for Business Development (CICBD) unit “to ensure the survival of various tourism-related businesses” until guest numbers increase. The ministry said that the CICBD had successfully implemented this special programme throughout 2021.
Businesses previously approved for these programmes will not need to submit new applications but there will be a verification process to confirm the existence of assets for which people are claiming support. Most of the money is expected to be used to repair boats, general maintenance, help with liability insurance and other expenses.
“The funds must be used directly in support of business expenses and businesses will be required to provide proof that funds were utilized for the allowable expenses under the programme,” the release stated.
New applicants will be admitted to the programme from this Thursday, 14 April. The application window will be open for two weeks and the deadline for submission of new applications is Friday, 6 May.
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George,
What a missed opportunity with the return of cruise ships. Yes, you can book a ride on the Trolly Roger on a ship, or a four wheeler tour, or a trip to the Turtle Farm but….
What if the tour operators collectively did NOT offer their Stingray City tours to onboard re-sellers?
We know the operators get a fraction of what the passengers pay onboard, why not stop selling it onboard?
Instead of a boat that is filled to the gunwales with punters at $25, take a third of those people at $75!
Stingray City is one of the great wildlife encounters in the world and is marketed as such on the ships for only $125. The ships make 50-75% of the booking price.
Operators need to control the bookings. If the demand is so high, keep raising the prices during peak hours and days until the demand is quenched. Our stayover tourists can visit for a fair price on non peak times adding value to their stay, and locals know the best experience is out there after the ships have left.
Get the bookings for Stingray City out of the hands of the cruise lines and into the hands of either a local co-operative, the tour companies themselves, or a CITA/Gov partnership.
Common sense should prevail. the island was closed for two years. do you really think its going to bounce back in two months. Putting pension back in July is another mistake. just extend till December 22. at least it will gove the island 9 months to recooperate a little bit better.
I am not ready to safely open up all the way so this will provide our business a little cushion as we ramp up.
Another massive social welfare beast has been created! Amazing how they keep “finding” money to hand out. We should expect these islands to be in deep debt in the near future, our revenue good times will soon come to an end.
All those lovely wotes!
To me, the photo above is very telling of many things wrong… 11 boats with way too many tourists on a hugely unregulated site. If CIG can monitor the Kittiwake dive site, why not also have limited tourist boats at Stingray City?
The increased pressure on the rays and especially the starfish is not good news. Evidence of watersports operators removing starfish from the sea for tourists’ social media glamour shots has surfaced and DOE shrugs their shoulders.
The starfish resurgence over the last couple of years is all for naught. These beautiful creatures are few and far between now.
Humans are a terrible lot.
George, you are very misguided… (I’m being polite).
Hopefully they find enough money to pay back all the people still paying PR fees while waiting for years for their status to be heard…..
Get rid of travel time and stop giving handouts to people who haven’t figured out how to get a job.
Where exactly did the government find the extra money? It is my understanding that some of the equipment used by the staff at the PACI represents a serious safety concern and need to be replaced immediately. Why not find some extra money to address the safety issues impacting the staff at the PACI?
Can’t find money to put in place decent health insurance and pensions for seniors!
If CIG really wants tourism numbers to return they must drop the vaccine requirement for kids ages 12-18. By continuing to require non-vaccinated kids in this age group to quarantine we successfully eliminate all families with kids age 12 – 18 and that’s a lot of people going elsewhere when they could be coming here.
Quarantine should be cancelled for everyone, period. If you’re sick, stay home, like you used to way back oh…2 years ago!
Vaccinated or not, anyone can get the covid thing and 99.9% or so either never know they have it or are completely fine after a few days of a flu or bad cold. Those who know they MAY be vulnerable have access to vaccines or masks or horse tranquilizers or whatever they want. This is utter madness how we’ve dealt and continue to deal with covid.
Imagine if it was Ebola? Do we all get cyanide pills and take them immeidately? Seems we’re a bunch of panicky fools
Where exactly did they found that 4.9M, asking for a friend ?
Odd we just sanctioned more Russians…
This has to stop. The CIG is in a vote buying cycle and is one massive social assistance program:
1) Half the voters work in the civil service, which is itself a social assistance program. Don’t we have one of the highest ratios of civil servants to residents in the world?
2) Tour operator stipends
3) Tourism stipends
4) Keeping Travel Time open when the rest of the world has moved on from requiring pre-flight and arrival testing, EXIT PCR TESTING (for the love of BoBo, this is insane at this point in COVID) etc. Too many voters are employed now in the “COVID Management” (and I use that term sarcastically as they are managing nothing) industry.
This place is a joke.
Boom – drop the mic, you are on point @5:02pm
🎤 kaboom 💥
Complaining about vote buying is saying you don’t believe someone can get elected off the merit of being best qualified for the role…..is that what you are saying?
Yes giving ex tourist workers 1500 p.m, same time only giving x old seamen 950 and some old pensioners less than 1200. I guess they think only ex tourist workers need to eat and pay Bill’s.
Thank you???
In other news, Govt just announced that edumacation of its people is obselete, one need only become a registered woter and handouts will be granted for life.
#handoutcapitaloftheworld
Seriously. Go to Canada, France or pretty much any EU country and you’ll see what handouts really are. This stuff here is but mere child’s play.
And how much better the roads, healthcare, and general quality of life is.
and 55% tax rates……….
Of course they did.
For the love of God why? We must stop this corrupt vote-buying. PACT need to let those that refused to adapt their obsolete mass cruise business models, go into liquidation, like hundreds of other businesses have had to since the Pandemic began. This is just delaying the inevitable for millionaire operators that were skirting rules and regulations before the pandemic started. Most didn’t accept the free advice when offered to re-tool two years ago. We need to reduce the number of operators in the WIZ and this is a tidy way to let demand-driven economics shake out a poor quality industry.
audit this nonsense right now.
And at the same time audit the seamens grant to find out how we keep getting more and more of them each year with their young wives when hardly anyone went to sea after the early 70s.
They all own a fishing boat but send Hondurans out and pay them nothing a month. Criminals.
9:06 pm,I agree something wrong with getting more and more seamen. The problem many so called seamen never went to sea. But lots of seamen went to sea after the early 70’s, I myself and also 3 of my brothers went after that too . If you dont believe we can show you ships stamped discharges.
9.06pm They go to sea on cruise ships.
Audit LMAO… who do you think does “the audit” of civil service? Same #Worldclass civil servants
Vote buying. Surely some of this is now criminal. It is certainly not prudent use of the people’s money.
As a pensioner on $1000 a month, I need to buy a boat and become a watersports operator
Or just register to vote in George Town Central.