Bryan denies any failings over tourism policy
(CNS): In parliament last week, Tourism Minister Kenneth Bryan denied that there are any issues relating to the UPM policy on tourism or that the decision to enhance and continue with the existing National Tourism Plan was a shortcoming on his part. Hitting back at the opposition for their criticisms of how he is handling the country’s second economic pillar, Bryan said the government and his ministry were working towards a balanced and sustainable industry. He said recent comments by Opposition Leader Roy McTaggart were “grossly misleading”.
Bryan said the current plan guiding the government, which was originally drawn up by the PPM-led administration, has been updated to reflect the current government’s policies to expand markets and gateways, continue to implement the National Beautification Plan, increase the number of events and expand sports tourism.
He accused McTaggart of deliberately taking Chief Officer Stran Bodden’s recent comments to the Public Accounts Committee out of context. Bryan said that Bodden had spoken about extending the current plan as a one-year bridge to take the ministry to the end of the year. He said the twelve-month extension was a “robust plan” that included the airport upgrades.
He said the new plan included a number of his ministry’s policies, which were documented in the government’s most recent strategic policy statement. But he said the opposition leader had implied there was a “void or gap” in the government’s tourism strategy, which was an attempt to mislead the public and worry the industry.
Bryan said the ministry and the Department of Tourism were working hard and were deeply committed to the stakeholders in the sector. “I’m doing everything within my power to ensure the tourism industry continues to grow in a way that is socially, commercially and environmentally viable,” he said, adding that the enhanced tourism plan would be in place to guide the tourism sector.
In the first of several statements Bryan delivered during last week’s parliamentary meeting, he denied that he was neglecting the sector in any way.
In a second statement about the work at the DoT, he said that the accommodation fees collected in the first half of the year had broken records again at 9% above projections, bringing in $25 million. He said there was a “steady uptick” in stay-over arrival numbers, which totalled 250,699 between January and June, up 6.5% compared to last year.
However, this is still far fewer than the first six months of 2019, the pre-pandemic yardstick, when 280,704 overnight guests visited Cayman in the same six-month period.
Bryan said that cruise passenger arrivals had significantly declined, and since 2022, when ships began to return after the pandemic, the numbers had been the lowest for two decades. He said so far this year, 634,212 passengers had come to Cayman, which is a further 14% drop from last year, and June saw a decline of some 26.5% to 56,114 people.
He said the government was working on optimising the number of overnight guests by focusing on an increase in airlift and new gateways. He also revealed the details of some of the additional flights that will be coming online later this year, including new direct flights from Minneapolis and increased capacity to and from Toronto.
The Cayman Islands now has more than 8,000 rooms available for overnight visitors, a record room stock level due to the opening of new hotels, which he noted had begun under the last administration. He pointed out the positivity of continuation as he again took aim at the opposition for criticising him. Bryan said there had been significant strides in tourism and his ministry’s strategic vision for the future.
See the first of Bryan’s six speeches on tourism delivered in parliament last week below on CIGTV:
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How about you get rid of the “beach vendors” smoking dope and renting out wave runners? The amount of little kids I saw almost take a wave runner to the head on Sunday was staggering. All for a couple of votes, hang your heads in shame elected morons.
maybe a free $50 bag to every tourist who gets off a plane
he can deny all he wants. He is a failure.
He just managed to kiss ass enough to stay elected.
Im not sure if its a policy failure as much as a complete and total failure from top to bottom. failings as I see them from my decade in Tourism
1. criminalization of Cannabis. In todays world most persons prefer to use cannabis rather than alcohol or tobacco leading to them bringing in pens and gummies as they also don’t want to smoke it. Look to Barbados and Bermuda for their policy.
2. Making Cayman Culture very hard to find. Recently the push of Cayman culture is greatly appreciated but I feel too little too late.
3. Prices are too high- great for wealthy travelers but we are missing out on a large market of middle class people
4. The expense/ difficulty getting to and from the sister islands
I think Mr bryan has had his chance. Someone else now please
I think the economist, Marla Dukharan, told us everything we needed to know about Cayman’s tourism pillar in her report.
Quote “…if Cayman continues growing the tourism sector, which requires more and more physical space, more hotels, bringing in more and more people, and generating more and more waste and pollution, we risk jeopardizing the very culture and natural environment which are the only major domestic input into the tourism sector.”
In that context, she suggests tourism is bringing as many negative impacts as positive and that government should “avoid further subsidising the sector” until it can definitely determine that is not a “net fiscal and foreign exchange drain” (Cayman Compass 7 March 2024)
Do you think he gets that?
This man could not organise a drinking session in a brewery to put it politely.
This isn’t the same place it was before Covid. An increasingly sprawling concrete jungle, with abundant bad driving, gridlock, littering, cheap Asian junkets everywhere, lack of new attractions, and the global rise in the cost of living.
Was on it’s way down long before Covid, just more obvious since lockdown.
we in trouble
2022
“Minister Kenneth Bryan said government is prepared to subsidise a public bus system in an effort to help get cars off the roads.”
“… consultants would come up with a comprehensive long term strategy for transport. ”
“ 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.”
“ Bryan was looking to Barbados 🇧🇧as part of planning for local transportation. He travelled to the island in 2022 and observed their bus system in action.”
⬇️
2024 Cayman turns to Bermuda 🇧🇲for public transport insight 🤣🤣🤣
“ in the preliminary discussion stage, Bryan has set his sights on a January 2024 start date and is working with Santia Bradshaw, Barbados’ Minister for Transport, Works and Water Resources to look at making a bus network happen.”
All cancelled after Cayman Airways ceased flying there. They were going to put the buses on the plane.
‘….He travelled to the island in 2022 and observed their bus system in action.”
LOL how difficult it is to set up a bus system on a small Island…to see it in action, wheels on the bus go round and round LMAO
Why don’t this Minister just move to Barbados?. Is it just me or is anyone else perplex with this love affair he has with Barbados. Has he received any payback of the money being owed to CAL for that rediculous charter arrangement he had with them?
1:10, Bajans are black and they kicked out the British recently. That’s why he likes them. Of course, they are also very well educated and literate, hard working and sensible enough not to be concreting over their lovely island but Mr Bryan takes no notice of that bit.
The Barbados Tourism minister is smarter than ours. In fact all the other Caribbean ones are. Why do you think they made him head of the association. So Cayman could subsidize everything.
What does the country offer tourists apart from minimal beach access (resulting in overcrowded, far from paradise experiences), hours in traffic, overcrowded stingray city and near obscene prices for a cocktail? That’s pretty much it.
Its the result of the past 30 years leadership. Kenny is just the latest fool.
You doomsayers can keep parroting that foolishness all you want. The numbers speak for themselves, and they clearly show that tourism (at least the aspect that matters to non-Kirkconnel’s) is doing fine.
We have a tourism policy?
Tourism is largely self-sustaining.
I must say tho that the investment and development of it’s greatest asset is a failure!! Where is the training of young people and progression for long time staff? The Terrible news on the minimum salaries will also serve to attract more cheap labour from the entire globe, driving up local stress and un/underemployment.
Do better sir!
he is a fine caymanian mla!…for locals he has the perfect combination of ignorance, aloofness and arrogance.
any comment mrs governor???
Cayman is full of fly in criminals, hits for cash, you name it. It’s a fail mr.
Kenny you failed, plain and simple. Cayman has become a place for the criminals to visit and for trashy movie series. Nothing hard to achieve if you only place people and country first. However, the damages that has occurred whilst you guys play political reshuffling have ruined our islands reputation as a country of good governance and a safe place to work and live. Instead you all gave out PR and statuses to highest bidder which has imported some of the worlds most corrupted people that no other countries would take.
You are on a slippery slope my boy and will become the one term wonder with your rotten arrogant attitude. For the record extending the airport runway into the sound and building a terminal for the rich at the expense of the caymanians and the environment really sucks!
Kenny. Go and stand outside royal watler yourself; with your cronies from CIG and your department and ask the people leaving to get back on the ship what they think of the place. Film it for the CIG YouTube channel and let us know.
Turns out nobody wants to visit a jamaicanised, grid locked island where the highest point is a dump, the beach access is nowhere to be seen because we sold it all off and people didn’t travel hundreds of miles to the Caribbean to go to Llloyds or Lone Star.
Shocked I say. Shocked.
When the weeks shopping at fosters cost nearly as much as the weeks accominretiij in a 70s borderline dilapidated low rise condo. 🤣.
29 million out of billions. Guys a joker.
We need to get this guy out of office. Anyone know who he’s running up against next year????
It won’t matter. His constituency is already bought and paid for. Thanks to these stupidly small single-member constituencies, he will be around plaguing the Cayman Islands as long as McKeeva has been around. The only hope is to send him to irrelevance on the opposition side of the floor.
Who are his biggest financiers?
Do you think he gets that?
Please weigh in on the PORT EXPANSION PROJECT survey:
https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=uyT_3okgAESMjvceaAN4ss-gkvskDmFCg_edib4JG3lUOVRPNEY3UUhPMFRUNkYzMlo4RU1RSU42WSQlQCN0PWcu
Note that a Baird Report was published a few years back recommending remedial work to the concrete and suggesting the port was operating under 80% of capacity. The Minister and CI Port assertitions that a new cargo port is necessary, is not supported with data.
if Tourism is the second economic pilar, is the third the CIG. Asking for a friend in government?
As seen during covid time, Tourism isn’t really as big as it is perceived to be. And in my own silly thoughts, an illusion portrayed by the Ministry and department of Tourism. Take care of our people and environment first please.
It’s a dream I know. Something to hold to for our youth that don’t have much rolemodels to look up to aside from corrupt leaders, convicted and non convicted hiding behind the corrupt legal system, fantasy league churches that strangle the youth trying to get a foot in the door.
Sorry for the ramble on, long winded poor grammar, but I had to say it.
Peace and love
Apology not needed, better than the so called MLAs!
Illegal illegal illegal billboards!!
How did that Barbados ‘gateway’ work out Mr Minister? Is that one of your successes?
spot on. this would have been a resignation issue anywhere else in the world….
but as we know there is no such thing as accountability in cig or the civil service.
How did that partnering with Barbados on creation of local public bus system work out Mr. Minister? Partnering with Bermuda today?
Also whatever happened to the so called “luxury handbag designer”????
This man has no clue what he is doing. He should phone my good friend, the Honourable Josephine Connolly in the TCI. Their tourism is going gangbusters. He should visit Anguilla as well. Cayman has been overtaken as the choice island in the Caribbean.
.Mind you the crime and traffic does not help. Bring in a new Minister of Tourism before it is too late.
Mr. Johnson are you volunteering to go with him to translate? Otherwise will make no sense to send him on his own.
TCI getting one of the biggest rap celebrity Drake to endorse there as his preferred Caribbean destination was a chess move I long to see Cayman get the fortitude to play.
We would have to get the MLAs to stop appealing to the church folks and decriminalize cannabis first. Thats why alot of celebrities’ go to other islands because they know they wont be paraded as a Drug bust like they did to Ms. Hadid a few years ago when they find a weed pen or thc gummies
KB only knows Fool’s Mate.
Gang busters being the operative word with a number of shootings, all gang related.
Roys comments are not aking me worry Kenneth…you are!!
*making
This isn’t a tourism plan, it is feelgood rhetoric. “protect the environment, while diversifying our tourism sustainability.”
Yes, please tell us the steps to be taken to achieve such a thing.
By the way, I just made up the above sentence, it being representative of the blather in the “Plan”.
What will they say when “sustainable” becomes passe??
Freakin’ morons!
This man is delusional.
It’s the people that vote for him that concern me more. Calling them as daft as a brush seriously insults brushes.
There is nothing worse than a dimwit who is so arrogant that he doesn’t know he’s a dimwit.
Indeed. Ricky Gervais —
‘The best thing about being dead is that you don’t know about it. It’s like being stupid – it’s only painful for others.’
Just a failure in general this guy. Stick it on a billboard, nobody cares.
Fools never learn. a fool will be a fool forever,even after death they still a dead fool and that’S GTC voters and plenty others.