Bryan calls for cruise port vote at next elections
(CNS): Tourism Minister Kenneth Bryan has said he would like to see a referendum on the idea of developing cruise port piers at the same time as people go to the polls for the general election in 2025 “to settle the question” once and for all. During his contribution to the budget debate on Monday, Bryan said that without berthing facilities, the cruise sector would go into decline as the cruise lines remain unwilling to tender large ships and the ships are getting bigger.
Despite the long-term expectation that stay-over tourism would continue to grow, that was not the case for the cruise sector, the minister said. “We can only avoid the elephant in the room for so long,” he told his parliamentary colleagues. “At some point, we have to address the fact that if we continue in the cruise business, we either have to be willing to accept the continual decline in passenger numbers… or reconsider our options in respect to having cruise piers.”
Bryan noted the level of public sensitivity about the matter and that while the people had called for a referendum on the issue, it had not taken place.
“In hindsight… that might have been a good thing,” the minister said. “At the time, people felt absolutely assured that the Cayman Islands was the jewel of the Caribbean cruise sector and ships had no choice but to stop here. Well, in the years since the question of piers was last discussed, we have seen that the cruise lines don’t have to stop here.”
Bryan presented an oversimplification of what the Cruise Port Referendum campaign was all about, and failed to consider that those campaigning for the people-initiated referendum were also concerned that mass cruise tourism was unsustainable, that berthing facilities would damage the reefs in George Town harbour, threaten the broader marine environment in the area, and put Seven Mile Beach at risk.
The costs of the project, the role of the cruise industry and who genuinely stood to gain from such an enormous development were also concerns raised as the referendum campaign gathered momentum and public opinion appeared to come down against the proposal during the last PPM-led administration.
Many people, including those working in tourism, still want the government to focus on the quality rather than the quantity of visitors, especially shifting to overnight guests — which is what PACT said it would do in the wake of the 2021 elections.
Nevertheless, Bryan said ships were simply getting bigger and bigger, so they would certainly not tender the next generation of ‘Icon’ ships. The minister said he was not there to advocate for the cruise lines, but was “calling it as I see it” as the minister responsible. Now he has seen what was happening, it was time to consider holding the national vote.
“I think it would be wise for us to hold the referendum at the next election… so the people can settle the question once and for all whether the Cayman Islands should have piers and remain a viable cruise destination,” he said.
He said the berthing facility did not have to be in George Town, where it may be a risk to Seven Mile Beach, but could be considered elsewhere. However, he said cruise tourism would continue to decline without the piers, and so the people should decide. “We need to know”, he said, meaning that MPs need to know if the people want them or not. Bryan said he didn’t want the administration to be criticised for not being able to deliver the passenger numbers without the resources to deliver it.
The minister accepted that the people might not want high numbers of cruise passengers but said he was doing all he could to try and increase them until a decision was made. Bryan predicted that by the end of the year, cruise arrivals would be over 1.2 million, which was higher than expected because of the “begging” he and his team had engaged in with the cruise lines. But he also accepted that tourism is changing and the next generation of travellers is looking for something different.
Bryan’s contribution also covered his goals for overnight tourism and diversifying that product, as well as the controversial plans for the airport, and spoke about the money that the government will have to inject into the Cayman Turtle Centre this year as it is in need of serious maintenance and repairs. He also revealed that the controversial attraction is struggling to deal with the demand for turtle meat. Pointing out that the subsidies for the farm come from tourism, he said a decline in cruise passengers would make the finances for the whole facility even more challenging.
The minister noted that the cargo port was reaching capacity and would also need to be redeveloped. He said that KPMG had been contracted to develop the outline business case to look at either expanding the cargo in George Town or developing a new one at another location.
Watch the minister’s contribution on CIGTV below:
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Category: Business, Government Finance, Politics, Tourism
Can we also have a vote to mute this clown?
Voters could do a lot more if they organised. They hold all the power, but instead sit on their soapboxes, to whine and moan for years. So tiresome. If you don’t know what you can do, then you don’t deserve the privilege. The people-led petition for a Port referendum was the first glimmer of hope in years that Caymanians might actually have figured out the mechanism they use as a group between election cycles. Alden did not wield the authority to reject the request.
“At the time, people felt absolutely assured that the Cayman Islands was the jewel of the Caribbean cruise sector and ships had no choice but to stop here.”
Wow. Like Kenny or don’t like him, but he has no problem being dishonest. Regardless of one’s position on the cruise pier, that was certainly not the reason it was rejected, and he knows that.
What does it really take to sell out your integrity like that?
When is enough, enough. As long as the population keeps exploding we will always have to chase our tails. I long for a politician who will listen to the people. Is that too much to ask!
JuJu supposed to be a good listener… even got an award for it… 😭😭😭
As if the strained budget and previous support for a referendum wasn’t enough to put this dead in the water…
Kennth knows where his bread is buttered. The tour operators on the waterfront want it so Kenny boy will keep pushing it. If you live in GTC outside of the waterfront area kenneth doesn’t want to know your name. You mean nothing to him.
What happened to this vote tactic?
Guess it’s the one time church and cartels agreed haha.
Help the people Kenneth, not the greed!
Kenneth is a f************* idiot. I prolonged the stars for emphasis.
Infrastructure Kenny, no SMB beach, traffic, pollution, facilities, – we don’t need a referendum Kenny VonSpendwig, just some good old fashioned common sense. 🤡
Agreed with all the stars..
When cruise tourists are tendered, it at least allows some time to land and merge 15 to 20 thousand tourists onto the one narrow two way road.
Piers will mean that a tsunami of 20 thousand will invade GT at once.
Just imagine the chaos and damage to our name that will cause as lines build and tempers flare.
By turning large ships away we are helping with reducing the Cayman islands carbon footprint that these same people spout, or is that a bit of an inconvenience now?
Only persons spouting environmental concerns are the governor and Wayne, and neither has any control over the current government or Kenny.
Not forgetting all their trash that adds to Mount Trashmore, that they leave on the beaches and that washes up on south coast beaches from their comings and goings.
For this idiotic idea to get back on the table, he must have been summoned to a meeting in Miami with the cruise lines and given his marching orders.
If the pandemic taught us anything, it’s that we don’t NEED or WANT these cruise ships. This isn’t hard Kenny.
Kenny WANTS and NEEDS the “support” he gets from the cruise ship opera and the vested business interests that want volume tourism. Lot of money at stake for some people.
Butt Kenny needs taxi drivers votes. To hell with Cayman.
Next they will rehash that we need to update the Port dock facility for the population growth, and that the cruise ship cartel will pay for it, only we will be paying for it instead, just like the tender fee rebates that McKeeva hooked us to years ago. It’s a disaster that his group is anywhere near port operations.
The last time MP Bryan had along article on CNS regarding Cruise lines a few months back it highlighted ” Quality over Quantity” That was his solution now this? I swear these Ministers seem to think the general public do not keep track of the nonsense they say trying to seem relevant.
Your average Jamaican in GTC certainly doesn’t.
It is probably Big Mac that is urging him on
about a cruise terminal
Convicted drug dealers have proven that they are not reliable, trustworthy, or possessing of good judgement. They shouldn’t be handling any public money, let alone making decisions on budgets and policy. The voters of Cayman need to petition to Disqualify any aspiring or sitting MP with a criminal record. Period. Until that happens, this is what you get…
Follow the money… Funny how it makes people sing a different tune…
Da Jamaican plan still in play eh Ken Ken ?? Still waiting on cooking school/pier !
We’ve already done this Kenneth you moron! The people were very clear – we do not want this.
Why do these MPs pretend they care about the population? We all know that the time of our morning commute is cut in half when no ships are in town – if you care about us then stop them completely
Why do the voters keep electing these idiots??? The electorate has the power to choose better.
Sad to say but he was a better choice compared to Frank Cornwall
Not sure to be honest.
Kenny couldn’t hold a candle to Frank.
Is Kenny planning to move the cruise ship landing to the Lobstor Pot or the Fish Market?
The fish market does not pass the sniff test.
😃😃😃😃
“At the time, people felt absolutely assured that the Cayman Islands was the jewel of the Caribbean cruise sector and ships had no choice but to stop here. Well, in the years since the question of piers was last discussed, we have seen that the cruise lines don’t have to stop here.”
This was absolutely not the reason people initiated a referendum to vote against the berthing facilities, but I guess it’s a convenient story.
Just Another Day in Absurdistan
How does he have “Alden” back with him? You just wanted to make a comment, right?
No room for cruise shippers, because of all the new tourists coming here on the CAL flight from Barbados.
To be supplemented by the increased flow of massive numbers through Kenny’s new private jet terminal.
12 @7:05pm – Yep, around $220K for the first tranche!!!
I’d like to personally thank Magistrate Philippa McFarlane.
Thank God she decided to find Bryan Guilty of Assault in 2016 but to ensure his future ambitions were not derailed any further, she said there would be no conviction recorded against him.
https://caymannewsservice.com/2016/02/bryan-guilty-of-assault-but-no-conviction-recorded/
That has turned out so well for all of us having the Boy Genius in power… for anyone new to Cayman he is also a convicted drug dealer. Can’t make this stuff up.
It would help if an actual candidate would run against him but alas… The last guy wouldn’t even show up to the debate, had no platform and at his big reveal more time was spent talking about Roy and Alden than him.
Here is the true test of what a joke it was, can anyone even remember what his name was?
To be fair to the magistrate, I very much doubt that the offences he was convicted of carried a maximum sentence of more than 12 months. In Cayman a criminal convoy only bars you from running for parliament if the maximum sentence for the offence you are charged with is more than 12 months, irrespective off what sentence is handed down, or if the conviction involves dishonesty. For example, Macs conviction for assaulting the bar manager carried a maximum of 12 months, so he was perfectly free to stay in parliament even though a conviction was recorded. But Kenny was convicted of supplying cocaine. Can’t belive the max on that is less than 12 months – he got 90 days which the judge said was the minimum custodial sentence he could award. Never understood how he was eligible to run – perhaps the conviction was “spent” by that time and would not be taken into account?
If “Dishonesty” is one of the bars to running for office, should that also not be a bar to receiving government contracts..?
Apparently, that has not stood in the way of a multimillion dollar (and that’s just the fees) contract , being awarded to someone charged with Deception…a higher form of dishonesty.
Is there such a policy, anyone know..?
@2:03pm Assaulting a police officer carries a sentence of up to two years… so if the conviction had been recorded we’d all be better off.
Of course, the published schedule disagrees Kenny ol’ chap.
https://www.caymanport.com/ship-schedules-calendar/
Three to four cruise ships in a day. How about that for “an elephant in the room” @Kenny
Cayman let us remind this man on how bad we dont want a cruise port in George Town water front! Vote him out next election or this will be stuffed down your throats for the next 5 years. We cant afford to hesitate with self serving politicians anymore, you slip, we slide you out the door. Next please! its time they learn who is in charge.
His uneducated NAU voters only care what Kenny pretends is in their interest, not caring or realizing the whole Island has to pay to keep his slimy snout in the trough.
The Cargo port needs repair and upgrade; at least do this if not teh cruise Pier.
Make the Port board control their self rewarding payments to put towards upgrade and maintenance costs.
Cruise ships don’t stop here anymore because it’s overcrowded and shit (because of cruise ships stopping here) Let it go, we don’t want it.
Yes. It’s already a disaster in GT with just a few of the tendered ships in port. Delivering more visitors faster won’t help.
It’s like wanting to deliver East End folks to the chokepoint faster….. hmmm. I’m sensing a pattern.
You don’t want cruise ships or cruise piers?
Correct.
This reminds me of the famous quote: “Nobody goes there anymore, it is too crowded”.
Obviously, if it is too crowded with cruise ship passengers, then that means some cruise ships are coming here!
Touché!
Does anyone know how much it costs to buy a Cabinet Minister these days?
$100 plus cab fare it seems. Throw in a tube of Billy Dee Williams wannabe hair straightener and you got yourself a fully compliant Tourism Minister!!
Here’s a controversial idea: how about we stop selling ourselves out to multimillion dollar corporations that don’t care about people or the environment?
Anyways, here’s your daily reminder to get registered to vote.
Thank you! and may I add, if you are an intelligent young Caymanian who is interested in your country rather selling out to developers please consider running for office. It would be a huge improvement if we simply had caring honest intelligent people to vote for.
if everyone remembers, we were all concerned about transparency and a potential to pad the pockets of others. How do they intend to assure us that it won’t be the case?
I doubt that there will be any assurances – assurances take time that could be better used filling their pockets, and besides their key constituents don’t care if they do as long as they pass along a bit.
Isn’t that the sad truth. If our MPs pass along a few crumbles, we praise them. Meanwhile, they garner great influence and wealth while we struggle to pay our health care bill.
6:50a – Don’t care. Doesn’t matter in the least. WE DO NOT WANT IT IN ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM.
There. Got it?
Build our port Kenny! Your people need it desperately.
What about the money he is going to get from Ju-Ju for the rich people private air terminal?
How many times do the people have to say NO to this bad idea of a cruise berthing facility?
Tourists and locals would much prefer that govt focus on safety and efficiency of the destination instead of sinking hundreds of millions of dollars into a port.
Btw the cash strapped and debt burdened cruise lines are not in a position to finance it nor is CIG.
Finally, the nonsense of the cargo port at capacity is rubbish. We presently receive less than 1 cargo ship per day on average. Go to the port website to see the statistics.
Minister Bryan, we dont need more tourists, we need better quality tourists who spend more per head. These high end cruisers travel on smaller ships for a more personal experience such as Silver Seas or Viking Cruises. None of these true luxury brands are contemplating building megaships.
main·te·nance
/ˈmānt(ə)nəns/
noun
the process ( a series of action or steps taken) of maintaining or preserving someone or something, or the state of being maintained.
Why “Cayman Turtle Centre this year” is in need of serious maintenance and repairs? Does this mean that no regular steps or actions were taken to maintain and preserve Cayman Turtle Centre?
It’s been in need of maintenance for years. Remember going with visitors a few years back and the shark tank and the snorkel lagoon were all covered in algae – nasty.
Haven’t we heard this before?
Deja vu… all over again.
as predicted
November 5, 2021
Kenneth Bryan, the new minister of tourism and transport, has committed to making the necessary legislative changes to transform public transport in the Cayman Islands.
June 30, 2022
Tourism and Transport Minister Kenneth Bryan is teaming up with his Barbados counterpart for the creation of a national public bus system in a bid to alleviate Cayman’s traffic congestion woes.
Shouldn’t “ a young and energetic new minister” get a deeper understanding how reconcile the increased number of visitors and issues relating to public transport?
“Young and energetic”..?
More like uneducated and self serving ..
This idiot narcissist is chasing taxi driver votes from his GTC rabble.
Where are the bus stops. We are putting the cart before the horse. Everything Bryan does is an unmitigated disaster. He should seek employment in a circus.
Hard pass.
Just watch the vote buying fervently increase in intensity now. My bet is that MacDirty is still pulling strings and they are lining up their buddies for subcontractors and no doubt opening the front door for Dart and possibly the Chinese to bid again.
This sick crew are hell bent on ringing in the death knell for Cayman. Makes me want to heave in their general direction🤮
Let us have the vote right now, do not put off till 2025.
Mac is the de-facto Premier
Please Kenneth, just because you have Alden and McKeeva back with you, don’t make the wrong decision thinking you are invincible. You will go down in flames just like Alden did.
Friggin idiot! Does he not remember what happened to the PPM when they tried to force this down our throats.
Kenneth Bryan, will get elected next election just because there is noone to run against him but for sure he will be sitting on the other side of the bench.
What happened to the PPM? Every single one of them was re-elected.
Sit down Kenneth. Your an idiot.
I love the smell of irony in the morning.
LMAO I bet this went over someone’s head
YOU’RE.
Cayman will always get its share of cruise ships. Any cruise in the Western Caribbean will want to stop in Cayman; otherwise, any ship coming from Miami will have Mexico and Jamaica.
That is all we need. Just a few ships.
Oh no, no more polluting ships full of potential customers for knickknacks like 3 t-shirts for $20, or mugs made in China.
Let it disappear, along with the unskilled jobs that prop it up.
This is all about friends in Jamaica who need the big ships to pay for the piers that were built on a promise that piers would come to Cayman to run the sailing itinerary for these megaliths. Who you speaking fah Kenneth?
Idiot! We need this guy out of government.
Kenneth Bryan is a clone of Mac Bush. That is very bad for these islands.
There are other other countries which don’t cater to mega ships and they are doing just fine. It’s not all doom and gloom.
adding to this – there are other countries as well who tender with no issue – if the ships really wanted to come, they would.
Realistically however, lets think about this – by tendering, we limit the number of people who get of the ship at teh same time. By not tendering, you end up with 1,000s of people coming into the center of town all in one go at the height of morning rush hour traffic – you think traffic is bad now
Looks like CPR needs to get warmed up to fight the lunacy of Kenny and McKeeva who are working for the FCCA
Mario and Johann? No thanks…I agree this needs opposition but those two have no morals and were only doing it to get Johann votes.
You have no clue what you are talking about and have no clue about the truth and cpr but opinions are like A-holes everybody has one!
Thank God for Shirley Roulstone and CPR Cayman group for highlighting all the issues and leading the campaign to stop the PPM’s proposed cruise berthing facility thru a people’s initiated referendum. If CPR did not lead this charge and galvanize the people against Sir Alden’s government in 2019 that project would have likely bankrupt the Caymans especially on the heels of the covid pandemic and lock down.
You had me till you said “Caymans”…its “Cayman Islands” please get that right!!!
Old Cayman tourist board adverts used “The Caymans”. Whinging about the terminology is just a deliberately exclusionary tactic to “other” people – much like the tiresome ‘multigenerational Caymanian’ trope.
It’s still a big fat NO for me!
You didn’t vote no. You didn’t vote at all in fact.
Nobody did.
I’m about to register to vote just so I can vote NO
Yet another tourism minister swayed by the cruise lines and local duty free shots to do their bidding. What are the odds that they just using words to do the swaying?
Cruise tourism is not a good future for the Cayman Islands. We should be an upscale destination, not a commodity, especially as the size of the ships continues to grow ever larger. Stayover tourism is much better for the tourism industry.
Is this guy still here? Cayman. Do something about these fools. Vote better government. Close to my Cayman Passport, can’t wait to vote.
During his contribution to the budget debate on Monday, Bryan said that “without berthing facilities, the cruise sector would go into decline as the cruise lines remain unwilling to tender large ships and the ships are getting bigger.”
I say, so be it!
Hopefully we see the last of him after next elections as well!
8:38, The problem in the Cayman Islands is that we have a very, very limited political talent pool here. Just look at the circus with JuJu, McKeeva, Sir Alden, Seymour, etc. So many political retreads and lifelong politicians.
We have no Caymanian talent to run against Bryan.
This is as good as it gets because the public education system is so poor here and voters get fooled by simple people such as Bryan, JuJu, McKeeva, Seymour and their simple messages.
We had a referendum on a new port less than 5 years ago. Did Bryan not get the message? We don’t want a new cruise port. The message from the people was clear. What does Bryan not understand?
This place is politically screwed. We are now well on the road to becoming a little Jamaica, however, with a lot more wealthy people.
Sad but true. Believe the only hope is direct rule to help us get out of this unholy political mess.
We had no such referendum
Yes, but we know that Bryan and the majority of Caymanians were opposed to the port less than 5 years ago.
Bryan has completely changed his position. Smells fishy to me.
But Bryan always follows the money. 💵
You had me until “we had a referendum on a new port less than 5 years ago”. We never had a referendum on a new port, ever.