July visitors reached over 60% of pre-pandemic year
(CNS) The Cayman Islands welcomed 32,411 overnight visitors in July, which is 63% of the number in 2019, the record-breaking year before the COVID-19 pandemic closed local borders. Tourism Minister Kenneth Bryan said that the original target for visitor numbers for the end of this year was 40% of the more than half a million guests who came to Cayman in 2019, but he now expects to reach a quarter of a million stay-over tourists by New Year’s Eve.
Between January and June 2022, when there were still COVID restrictions in place and limited airlift, over 114,000 stay-over visitors flew into the Cayman Islands, which was around 41% of the air arrivals during the first half of 2019. But the numbers have climbed as each restriction, such as mask mandates and vaccine requirements, were lifted, setting Cayman on course to do much better than expected this year.
“I am confident that we are on target to deliver over a quarter million visitors,” Bryan said as he opened the Caribbean Tourist Organization conference at the Ritz on Monday and outlined the current tourism situation here. “Having removed all restrictions in August, we are expecting a similar impact on air arrivals, especially as we move into the winter season,” he said, noting that the last restriction was lifted just three weeks ago and would likely lead to a further increase in guest numbers.
“Though we have a long way to go to get back to pre-pandemic arrivals, the month-on-month increases demonstrate that for every key performance indicator, the needle is moving in the right direction,” Bryan said.
With airlift set to be higher by the end of 2022 than ever before and a record-breaking 7,161 rooms, even as COVID-19, inflation, wars and other issues continue to play out on the world stage, the tourism product in Cayman looks set to soar to new records, especially with the addition of Cayman Airway’s direct flights to and from Los Angeles opening up the West Coast and a new market of visitors.
“This new service, coupled with the 1% increase in capacity, gives the Cayman Islands tourism industry reason to be optimistic about the 2022-2023 winter season and will help us to get back to our pre-
pandemic visitation numbers,” the minister said.
Hotel development also continues, and while some projects listed by the minister remain elusive or have taken much longer than anticipated, the government is banking on the opening of another nine hotels or condo sites, half of which are expected to be open by 2025 and will around 1,000 more rooms to the stock.
Vida Cayman, comprising 18 bungalows in Barkers, and Kailani by Hilton, which includes 80 one-, two- and three-bedroom suites, are both due to open next year. In 2024, Dart’s latest project by Seven Mile Public Beach will add another 282 rooms, and the 351-room Grand Hyatt Hotel & Residences in George Town is expected to be completed. George Town’s first ten-storey building, One|GT Boutique Hotel, a mixed-used project that will include 177 rooms, is scheduled to be completed in 2025.
Despite public concern about the cruise sector and what many believe is a missed opportunity after the pandemic to reimagine Cayman’s relationship with the cruise lines, Bryan said that in a typical year cruise passengers make up 75% of our visitor arrivals and it is important that this sector develops in a manner that is cohesive and sustainable well into the future.
As of 30 June, following the return of cruise ships at the end of March, 213,000 passengers have arrived here via cruise ship. “The Ministry of Tourism has commissioned a cruise tourism strategy which can best be described as a roadmap for redesigning the current approach,” the minister said. “The goal is to focus more intently on quality, sustainability and capacity management.”
However, he recently said that reducing the numbers was no longer a fundamental part of the new cruise strategy, as the ministry pivots towards spreading cruise numbers throughout the year rather than cutting the number of ships. On Tuesday alone, with three ships scheduled to call, Grand Cayman was expecting close to 12,000 cruise passengers in port.
Bryan said he is very optimistic about how the Cayman Islands tourism industry is trending because of “pent-up demand from people around the world… after being stuck at home for two years”. The minister added, “Our goal is to bring them here, give them unforgettable experiences and convert them to loyal Cayman Islands visitors who continue to return year after year.”
See the minister’s full address on MoT’s FB page.
- Fascinated
- Happy
- Sad
- Angry
- Bored
- Afraid
…AHHH, remember when Coral Caymanian (beach-front) was 65 per night….gov’t tax was 6%—“departure-tax” @ 35 dollars….NOW 7mb is 4mb, as stated, Royal Palms GONE, Marriott’s and Hilton, NO BEACH….@ one time, Beach Club Colony, a GATHERING place, along w/ the old Holiday Inn w/ Barefoot Man….TIME changes ALL
Bob, those were the days. Even though times change and prices increase and the beach decreased along with all the gathering spots, the prices are now outlandish. To charge tourists $600-$1000 for a hotel room that has no beach is utter robbery. People will not return.
Making disparaging remarks about the cruise tourists who arrive on CI, which certainly have not been an overwhelming amount as of yet, is really no benefit. Until all on the island look like models, maybe stick with if you have nothing good to say, say nothing at all.
We can thank Moses Kirkconnell for this. Sure would be good to have him back taking care of our tourism product.
👎
There is nothing to offer a tourist now besides Stingray City. No Royal Palms, no Calico Jacks, no Rum Point, not much in 7MB. No nightlife. Overpriced airfare, overpriced hotels, overpriced food and drinks, and lots of traffic, construction and cement. The tourists that are showing up are the ones who haven’t been back in years who will be sadly disappointed in the “new progress “ & if don’t have family on island, will probably not return.
I guess some people come to dive and lie around on 3.5 mile beach but you’re right. Pretty poor tourist product. Come marvel at our concrete and congestion!
Cruise arrival dollars spent = Low.
Stay over airline arrival dollars spent = high.
What are the Ministers not understanding of where efforts need to be put?????
Basic math, basic logic, basic Caymanian education that is lacking in the past, present and presumably future.
And thats exactly where the efforts are. The Tourism budget is around $25 million per annum and none of that is spent on attracting cruise. The effort and the dollars are spent on attracting air arrivals. When we include what is spent on Cayman Airways thats another $25 million so close to $50 million spent per annum on attracting air arrivals and nil spent on cruise. You satisfied with those efforts?
Lower the prices of your hotels or your numbers will never increase to pre covid era. The hotels have doubled/tripled in rate. There is no way my family is paying over $600 per night to stay in a hotel that is not even beach front especially when we know these hotels before covid were under $250 per night. We may be tourists, but we are not fools like you want us to believe. There are many places that have sun, a beautiful beach and believe it or not, better activities to do. Most islands in the caribbean are less money and are not less in what they have to offer. Regarding safety, there are still islands that are just as safe as cayman and the food and drink is just plain ol expensive on cayman, not extravagant like one wants us to believe.
Take your broke ass to Turks then. The rates are determined by demand.
It’s not about the money, it’s about justifying the price. No one in their right mind pays $600 a night for a room on an island without a beach. That’s being plain foolish.
But they do pay it. Hence the price
Most of those who pay it are those with family or friends on island or those who have been coming to the island for years. The last two groups will get sick and tired of paying those high, inflated prices and won’t continue to return, the trips will be shorter in duration or will be more spread out over time.
Then you’ll be able to afford to come back. See you then.
Not our family. Already booked our 2 trips for the upcoming winter season and sadly, it’s not Cayman.
Bye, Felicia!
boo hoo
#Caymankind
ah Caymankind.
Turks and Caicos sees major increase in visitor arrivals since 2019 at a rate of 21%. The demand for T&C is definitely there.
COVID mandates were everywhere (including CDC rules), and dropped not just in the Cayman Islands. Flight issues of short crews and underserved routes persist everywhere. In many cities, the rental car companies haven’t rebuilt their fleets. People are moving more now, and we are still a tiny part of all that is happening (or not happening) in the broader travel industry. These are not Kenny’s performance confirmations, as much as he’d want them to be.
Yes, a study! Finally! We are saved! All hail King Kenny!
A large proportion of the current cruise ship passengers arrive on Carnival ships. I suggest the Tourism Dept carry out exit interviews to assess passenger spending by these passengers, I believe it will be a lot less than their wishful estimates. We need to concentrate on stayover arrivals who are far more valuable to our economy than these window gazers.
Don’t disagree about stayover, but there are plenty of wealthy people on cruise trips. They may be a small percentage but there are many when you consider how many there are overall. Whether you have anything to offer them is another question. The duty free is meaningless to Americans as the prices are better there. That leaves Sting Ray City.
@6:52:
Industry studies indicate that the majority of money spent on purchases by cruise passengers is spent at the first two ports of call. We are not one of those ports. Transport and mobility is also a determining factor.
A factor not mentioned in the article is the rampant inflation that is affecting the spending habits of all but the wealthy.
Raw numbers of arrivals is one thing, but the most important factor and the one glaring omission in Kenneth’s enthusiastic propaganda as reported here is the amount of money each passenger is going to spend here. Having a ship full of window shoppers and those spending little on food/beverage, tours, does the economy little good. So Kenneth, do your damn job, skip the cheerleader hype, and provide us with the numbers that give a comparison of money spent by cruisers before and now, and also a comparison of how Cayman rates in this area with other ports of call of the ships that visit here. Until you provide those figures, all you are doing is blowing smoke up our baxides.
You are correct about wealthy people on cruise ships unfortunately though, not the ships that call on Cayman. Cayman gets the over fed, damn near dead crowd. Not much money there 😂😂😂