CI$50k up for grabs for new tourism ideas
(CNS): The tourism ministry is offering a grant of up to $50,000 to Caymanians who come up with new, original, authentic visitor experiences to help expand the attractions and things for tourists to do when they visit the Cayman Islands. The Visitor Experience Development Grant (VEDG) is designed to increase local participation in the tourism industry, and as capital can be a major barrier for entrepreneurs with a new business idea, the cash will help with the start-up.
In a press release announcing the initiative, officials said the grants would be disbursed to qualified candidates in instalments over a three-month period, and conditions are in place to ensure that the funds are used solely for the approved purpose.
Tourism Minister Kenneth Bryan said the initiative represents a crucial step in the strategy to diversify and enhance the Cayman Islands’ tourism offerings.
“The VEDG programme not only supports the development of unique and authentic experiences but also outlines a clearly defined gateway for enterprising Caymanians to enter the tourism industry,” he said. “By providing funds for innovative new ideas, we are not only enhancing our destination’s appeal but also helping to create sustainable income streams for Caymanians, which ultimately contributes to the economic growth and sustainability of our islands.”
The programme will focus on promoting new experiences in various categories, including eco/nature/wildlife tours, cultural and heritage activities, food and agricultural experiences, wellness and spiritual retreats, accessible tourism options, volun-tourism, film/photography tours and soft adventure activities. It also encourages activities tailored to the luxury market, as well as those designed for children, seniors or disabled visitors, and activities that can be enjoyed at night.
To be considered for a VEDG grant, the business must be 100% Caymanian-owned, with all owners and employees being Caymanians. The business must offer new and innovative experiences targeting international visitors. Applicants must comply with relevant statutory requirements, including the Trade and Business Licensing Act and other applicable regulations.
Watersports, land tours and transportation operators must hold the necessary Public Transport Unit (PTU) Licences.
Only one application per Caymanian person for a single business will be accepted. Applications can be made for the next four weeks until 30 September. Interested parties must complete the online application form here to submit a proposal.
The application form begins with an initial question, which asks applicants to confirm that the business is 100% Caymanian-owned and staffed. The remainder of the application is divided into the business details, the use of the grant and contact details.
Applications will be reviewed and scored by a panel of representatives from the ministry and the Department of Tourism based on a defined scoring matrix. Shortlisted applicants will be invited for an interview with the Cayman Islands Centre for Business Development (CICBD) to assess the financial and technical viability of their proposed business concepts. The final scores will be determined based on the combined application and interview scores. Grants will be awarded to the highest-scoring applicants, subject to the availability of funds.
Successful applicants will be required to participate in a small business orientation workshop and submit documentation to demonstrate the proper use of funds.
See here for more information on the Visitor Experience Development Grant Programme, including how to apply or email MOT-Requests@gov.ky
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Is this Free Money/Funding from the Government Tourism Grant available to Caymanians to build Small Pirate and Sovenir or T-Shirt Shops and Small Restaurants, Jerk Chicken Stans outside the Cayman Brac Caves???
Maybe some Bracers shiuld apply for dunda to turn the Caves on the Bluff into Pieate’s Week looking Tourism Attraction with Souveners Shops and Restaurants outaide them
Tours to observe the national pastime of operating leaf blowers any given day if the week. If you are a lucky cyclist, you can ride through a mini tornado of dust and leaves being blown out of yards on to roads at 200 decibels. If you get up early enough you can watch the idiot at truman bodden sports ground blowing leaves from one end of the track to the other so he has a pile to blow the other way the next time.
Create a new reality show for tourists based off of the “Ninja Warrior” theme. However, instead off swinging through monkey bar obstacles, tourists must navigate every historic change to the airport roundabout. “Ninja Malfunction Junction “!
with all that time Kenny spent in Barbados, he wasn’t able to poach ideas from them? maybe development of sports tourism for youth and adults- build a multiplex football/rugby pitch, adult tournaments. We have the biggest Pickle ball facility, get the regional events, build a proper swim stadium and ride off the back of our olympian.. develop swim camps for top athletes. Utilize the perfect empty roads of the Brac for triathlons/ duathlons. Invite international sailors for training camps on our perfect waters that have 8-12 knots everyday. invest in boats that the world wants to use (look at Bermuda)
that is just sports.
Next, actually create a culinary capital, where every restaurant is not the same dull food. Develop culinary retreats, wellness retreats utilizing our riches of the sea and beach.
Develop a regional art festival and music scene on the backs of proper artists and musicians.
there is a start for the tourism board, didnt cost 50 grand. Message me for my consulting fee….
How about a world class skate park, where kids and tourists can experience social interaction and exercise……oh wait.
Meh, just give it to Portsmouth FC. They could use the help.
There is a couple of things,
1. Annual International Jack Pot Fishing Tournament.
2. Build a Full Enclosed Size Soccer Stadium, that maybe one day a FIFA game could be held here.
3. Full size enclosed stadium which can accommodate more people to attend music festival and concerts which can be held quarterly.
4.Drive through Movie Theater
No amount of crocodile tears from Kenny B can make up for the fact that tourism is not a major economic contributor to our Islands. The role of tourism to our country’s economy and labour market is consistently and misleadingly overstated.
At their peak in 2019, hotels & restaurants accounted for just 5.5% of Cayman’s GDP. Professional, Scientific & Technical Activities contributed double that to our economy and yet the Government is – at best – ignoring the potential of these industries and – at worst – actively undermining them through the defunding of the Department of Environment, Department of Environmental Health and Water Authority. (Oh and by the way those organisations are all staffed by majority Caymanians.)
Instead, millions of millions of dollars in public funds are being pumped into sustaining a hospitality industry that is dominated by expat workers amnd foreign investors.
Another industry that the Government is being over backwards to support despite it being heavily dominated by expat workers and foreign investors is construction. In 2022, construction employed over 6000 foreigners and just over 2000 Caymanians. In 2021, construction accounted for just 4.4% of Cayman’s GDP. And with all this construction, Caymanians still can’t afford a place to live in their own country.
Our beautiful Cayman beaches, reefs, mangroves and forests are being destroyed in the name of tourism and development when Caymanians are seeing none of the prosperity and all of the pain from these industries.
The Government needs to look at the data and support the Caymanian people in ways that are actually meaningful and impactful instead of tossing a few pennies our way and making us fight over them like crabs in a bucket.
Excellent comment. Cayman’s tourism industry is a bit like the UK North Sea oil industry which receives billions of pounds in government subsidies and yet directly employs less than 30,000 people.
Tens of millions are forfeited annually on what could be innovation grants, missing social services and inward investment forfeited annually, just for the Turtle Farm, CAL, and endless CIAA and port fiascos. Tens more foregone on untracked CIG tax giveaways to the favourite developers that built the hotels. We get nothing from their being there, blocking the sun, beach access, and weathering their belligerence. As the CFATF has recommended: we need leaders that are not so easily bought.
I wonder which of King Kenny’s constituents will get these grants?
Noting: must be a registered conflicted actor to submit ideas for consideration.
Is VEDG pronounced like “veggie”? Probably appropriate because our Tourism Ministry officials apparently have the brain function of vegetables.
If only there was somewhere they could get a spliff and a cold Caybrew from a cooler buried in the sand….
Here is my entry:
Be the destination that does things differently- create your own niche market by:
1) Ban cruise ships
2) Ban higglers on the beach
3) Be tough on crime and policies- choose to be the safest destination in the Caribbean. Enforce. Enforce. Enforce. Increase community policing and visibility to the level it once was.
4) Preserve Sunday as a ‘quiet/low commerce’ day.
5) Create more pedestrian sidewalks and bike lanes.
6) Maintain low density
The result? More families will visit. More multigenerational holidays will be taken. Most of all- the entire list will improve the quality of residents and tourists alike.
Pretty good list. #4 is the only one that’s somewhat out of shape in 2024, since many observe other days of the week.
The Seven Day Adventist has entered the room.
Actually, don’t have to be a 7th Day, to recognise they exist. Could also be one of the regular atheist majority. Anyway you slice it, sacred Sunday is an outdated construct – especially for our tourism markets where Sunday Shopping began in the 1980s.
Correct, in fact Friday’s are the sabbath for us Pastafarians.
R’amen!
“Small Up Yaself Tenement Yard Tours with Kenny B.”
How many cruise passengers can you squeeze in to a 2 bedroom house at any one time?
Anybody read the compass article about Wayne lending Sabrina 1.6 million to buy a house?
Cozy! Must be good to be King. Or Queen.
Yes … and ….?
I know i shouldn’t, but i’m hereby waiving copyright and trademark rights and invite anyone to and everyone to take my ideas and apply –
1. Donkey tours with Jon Jon (half price if you sit with the Physio)
2. Ski Da Dump (dry slope, highest point in da KY)
3. Terror in Da Round (Let a tourist drive your car around Grand Harbour for 10 minutes)
4. Bathroom Sniffles – join us any evening in any SMB dining establishment for a snort of colombias best
5. Big Mac Attack (this can be anything, just pay in a brown paper bag)
I prefer Jon Jon’s Midnight Monlight Serenade, and seaside Massage 2 in 1 deluxe package (Strictly for Ladies):
Take a dip in the cool waters of the Cayman Islands under a full Moon while at your sexual peak, then come ashore while listening to sweet warbling of one of our leading legislators. End the night off with an intimate massage and mixed drinks of your choice. Then be driven home or to your hotel in one of the Government’s finest SUVs by one of our sober and professional staff.
Don’t forget the bit about getting slathered in 🤬 Vaseline!
More than four rims were destroyed that night.
Vote buying at its worst .
Forty years ago beautiful beaches, crystal clear water to swim, snorkel or dive in was enough to bring in tourists. Seeing how the island is just basically a concrete jungle now I’m not surprised tourism needs to find something to get people to come down.
Yes, it’s our unique marine ecosystem that has put Cayman on the map, and why people come. We can’t loose sight of that. Our politicians and DOT, fail to grasp what is vital.
How about a zip line from the top of Mount Trashmore to SMB?
Crazy thing is that I’d actually try it lol
This is yet again another disgraceful move. Who do you think he is apeasing? Jamacians! Not us! These ba..Ds are gone mad. 2025 can’t comment soon.
Giving Status away, giving our hard on money away to jamacia along with plane loads of supplies that we desperately need. CUC running to assist them and we paying for it under the guise increasing cost of living. My God when is this going to stop. This is wicked beyond wicked.
J Christ! Y’all do not listen to the House meetings?! Tourists have reported that: 1. We need more/new attractions and 2. We do not have enough (native) Caymanians in the hospitality industry. For crying out loud; stop distrusting every initiative and start participating more. It’s comin’ like all y’all want to do is whine, b!# and complain. Be the change you want to see. 😒
If it was run properly, it might work. But we all know all the money will go to MPs cronies for half baked ideas that will go bankrupt in 6 months.
Saying that years ago and still…..yawn!
Thanks FCCA.
Willies Weed Shop.
get wasted (and fleeced) in the Cayman Islands.
locals would use as well.
It this came from anyone other than Kenny I would actually think it was a good idea! He will find some way to mess this up based on his track record!
Wait!
Isn’t this what we are paying DOT for?
this is just a guise for we need a consultant.
where is the business case anf RFP.
is it on bonfire?
Bonfire is right. CIG burns enough money to power an imaginary waste to energy plant.
Here we go again with another scheme to throw away our hard earned money on schemes to get friends and family some money before the elections, which technically is vote buying.
Ding ding ding! This will be the same type of corruption as the donation to the churches a while back, without any criteria or accountability. Undisguised vote buying
Some people pushing dirty beach chairs and imported trinkets to cruise passengers on our public beaches would be a great addition.
Preferably stackable vinyl sling beach chairs from the 1970s.
Here’s an idea. How about charging tourists to come see our illustrious bunch of clown politicians in action. We could make some serious coin and upcharge a premium if they want to sit in the peanut galley and heckle. There are plenty of empty seats as most of these clowns never show up to important parliamentary sessions.
‘Mckeever’s marvellous milking a cow in the dark’ should pull them in!
Wotes Wotes Wotes
Wait. So this “grant” is only open to those who have watersports licences? Us regular mooks can’t come up with a 50K award-winning idea? Thanks a lot, Kenneth. For nothing. Again.
the grant is open to anyone but if it is an idea for watersports then you need a license.
did you even read the article?
“The programme will focus on promoting new experiences in various categories, including eco/nature/wildlife tours, cultural and heritage activities, food and agricultural experiences, wellness and spiritual retreats, accessible tourism options, volun-tourism, film/photography tours and soft adventure activities. It also encourages activities tailored to the luxury market, as well as those designed for children, seniors or disabled visitors, and activities that can be enjoyed at night.”
Those that can read have a clear advantage.
Pretty much covers everything and anything.
Hoping for an outdoor skating rink. Please!!
Turtle shaped ice rink!
At Jeff Webb’s house!
Another grant for friends and families … zzzz
Jamacians, Philipenos, Cubans Hondos. Et al. That who and what this is all about. Damn we in a disastrous mess.
Never for caymanians! Have you ever heard these pile of shits.
my idea is to create scam tourist attraction that gets me $50k from cig.
where do i sign up?
At the top of the list will be to get rid of these 19 imbeciles we have in Parliament and replace them with educated and intelligent representatives who have no criminal records and have demonstrated that they know how to operate successful businesses.
Put Kenny in a dunking chair, I’d pay money for that!
Make Kenny Beach Great Again!
More prize offers…are we in kindergarten?
Vote buying season boyzzzzzzzzz
Ha! Only companies that are 100% Caymanian owned and staffed???
Put your money where your mouth is. You put your life savings into that company and business on island and see how long it goes. Bobo not coming into work today and Bobo #2 just quit.
Ask John John for creative ideas. He seems to be very creative.
Set him up in a tent downtown and he can tell each person to stay home in their naive language.
Thanks for my first belly laugh for today.
Dodgems!
Yeah, give them all your ideas for them to use and profit from…
‘…..subject to the availability of funds’
LMAO
If you have a good idea there is no better way to keep it safe than to share it with Kenny.
Stop cruise tourism. Remove all vendors from Public Beach. Put police patrols on foot back on the beach.
Please send my $50K to Butterfield.
This ‘grant’ should be deducted from his salary!
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤡
1. No Cruise Ship Mondays
2. No Cruise Ship Tuesdays
3. No Cruise Ship Wednesdays
4. No Cruise Ship Thursdays
5. No Cruise Ship Fridays
6. No Cruise Ship Saturdays
7. No Cruise Ship Sundays
8. All of the above
How about personal nighttime tours of Watercourse Road and Birch Tree Hill? Tourists can meet representatives of our local gang community, play with their guns, sample their drugs and listen to their tall tales. Some Czech guy has already done a proof of concept which is getting a lot of clicks on YouTube, so it would clearly be popular. As RCIPS have taken no action presumably its entirely legal. All I will need is $50K to buy some better guns and more impressive bling. And gives the gang members an honest wage so they are not forced to deal drugs (other than as part of the adventure tourist experience of course)or guns to make a living.
I got one, build cruise piers!
Ah. Theme Park tourism as usual.
1. Honda Fit bumper car challenge.
2. Seven Mile Beach deck chair and sea wall obstacle course.
3. Tourist cross walk wack a mole.
4. Dump Road paint ball with real bullets.
5. West Bay 3D gun printing factory tour.
6. Guess the Central American barmaid weight.
Well done Tourism Ministry. The possibilities are endless.
#6 LMFAO
So this is basically a pre-election handout by the boy Kenny.
Caymanians only, only one per voter – ahem – Caymanian.
Youth hostelling with Chris Eubanks