Regional economist to challenge cruise ‘wisdom’ at rally
(CNS): One of the Cayman Islands’ favourite regional economists will be examining the received economic wisdom about cruise tourism at a rally next week. Marla Dukharan has often praised Cayman’s economic policies, but she has challenged the concept that cruise tourism is a positive for the economy, and when she appears on the CPR platform next week, she will explain why.
The campaigners opposing development of cruise berthing facilities are urging the community to vote ‘no’ to the government’s open-ended question.
Since 2018, when the non-profit was formed to force the PPM-led administration to hold a referendum on its specific cruise facility proposal, the activists have continued to raise concerns about the idea of a cruise dock re-emerging.
Five years ago, when CPR submitted its petition for a people-initiated referendum (PIR) to the Elections Office, the country appeared to be against the proposed development given the scale, costs and environmental damage associated with that particular proposal.
With no general referendum law in place and some real concerns about how the government was planning to hold the people-initiated referendum, the CPR had major concerns. They took the government to court, which delayed the vote, but then, with the pandemic lockdown, the government shelved the project.
When Kenneth Bryan took over as tourism minister in 2021, he began by promoting the idea of ‘less is more’ for the cruise sector. This meant focusing on quality over quantity and encouraging boutique cruise lines to come in place of the major cruise lines if they refused to tender their mega ships. But the minister soon came under pressure from the cruise companies and some of the downtown merchants to return to the idea of a pier.
While Bryan has been pushing the idea of developing cruise piers for the last two years, he hasn’t offered any plans for a specific project or even the idea of one. Instead, he is posing an open-ended question in the forthcoming referendum asking whether or not the country should build berthing facilities.
CPR has raised a multitude of concerns about this approach, including the fact that the government has supplied no information about the economic pros and cons of building a pier. The activists are very concerned that a ‘yes’ vote could pave the way for the next government to go ahead with a hugely expensive, environmentally disastrous project that could have far-reaching negative consequences for generations without putting the specifics of the project to the people.
Their original successful campaign for a PIR remains in limbo. No people’s vote has ever been held and the government-initiated referendum on 30 April could spell the end of the campaigners’ efforts to prevent even the most egregious of projects.
The CPR activists have very few resources compared to the Association for Cruise Tourism (ACT), which is campaigning for a ‘yes’ vote, and are deeply concerned that Cayman could end up with a cruise facility that will very quickly become a massive financial, environmental and infrastructure problem without adding any financial benefit to Caymanians.
As a result, they are hoping to make a big splash for the ‘no’ campaign with a rally scheduled for Tuesday, 18 March, at Constitution Hall in George Town, their only big event before the vote. They have chosen Dukharan because of the broad respect many people have for her expertise and because she has no dog in this fight and will be offering evidence-based economic advice.
Dukharan is expected to present economic data and independent analysis on cruise tourism in small island economies, helping voters understand the tourism sector, and the cruise sector better.
When she delivered the keynote address at the Chamber of Commerce Economic Forum, she questioned the value of cruise calls to the economy and the dependence of businesses on it because, while the spend per head might be increasing, in real terms it was on the decline.
But in a report on Cayman’s economy, Unleashing Cayman’s Potential: A Journey Towards Prosperity, based on her own research and published last year, the regional expert said that while the Cayman Islands has the best-run economy in the region, there are weaknesses that need to be addressed, and one of them is our dependence on tourism in general.
Speaking to CNS, she challenged the fundamental principles that successive governments have been peddling for years, namely that Cayman needs tourism.
“But has anyone ever looked at the data to analyse whether there is any truth to these widely held beliefs that tourism and financial services are the twin pillars driving the Cayman economy and that construction is needed to create growth? And if not, why not?” she asked.
“It is especially important in the year ahead of an election to make sure Caymanians understand how the economy works and what actually are the problems you need to resolve so you can make the best decisions possible when you head to the polls,” she said last year.
Related VP: Haven’t we had a referendum on cruise berthing before?
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Speaking to CNS, she challenged the fundamental principles that successive governments have been peddling for years, namely that Cayman needs tourism.
So is she saying we should put all our eggs in the one basket of financial services??? If so, she is an idiot. All it would take is the UK and and the USA a few strokes of pen to vaporize the offshore banking industry. Seeing how this island has to import literally everything to survive it seems like having as many different sources of revenue as possible would be good. Should they be managed responsibly, absolutely.
Perhaps you read a different article than I did. I read the one above. She didn’t say anything even close to putting all our eggs in one basket. She said that the cruise basket is (paraphrasing) fraught with financial and other peril. I agree with her.
The article states “she challenged the fundamental principles that successive governments have been peddling for years, namely that Cayman needs tourism.”
Yes, and?
After dealing with tourist bus operators driving like complete helmets this week, the cruise industry withering away makes me happy.
Why are comments closed on election articles?
CNS: The full articles are on the Election Section site, where the comments are open, as explained at the end of the snippet.
Even when I go there I don’t see the related article.
CNS: I don’t know what to tell you. They’re all there and not hard to find.
@OP. I have this problem with CNS (both news and election sections) where I have to refresh the page to see the missing articles. It might work for you?
@CNS is it possible to provide links to the related articles rather than sending us to the election section to then look for the article?
CNS: Yes, we can do that.
Thank you yes, I have noted that problem too, but even when I do that I do not seem to be able to find the article. Your suggestion of a link is probably the best solution.
I can confirm this – sometimes if I’m not viewing CNS in an incognito tab it seems I get a cached version that lacks a few newer articles.
CNS: I’m going to have another go at sorting this out. Can you let me know if it’s still a problem next week?
A vote for PPM is a vote for Jamaicans, not Caymanians it is that simple.
If you vote for PPM you are voting for the takeover of our beloved islands by Jamaican politicians and their garrison loving supporters.
Can the smarter people in Cayman please stop with the generalizing nation-bashing and xenophobia? There are some extraordinarily fine Jamaicans, and other expats. We are honored to have them offer us their time and commitment. They are kind, honest, and hard working. We invite them to come! Let’s try harder to differentiate what actually bothers us: “poor driving” for example, doesn’t have a nationality attached to it, and for good reason – that label applies to all poor drivers, that either need more work on their skills, or a learning experience via an enforcement ticket. Suggesting that all Jamaicans are generally understood to be X, is lazy and false. There are bad apples of all sorts of backgrounds in Cayman Islands, not least some deplorable Caymanians (like those that would so easily disparage all Jamaicans universally).
Nobody is saying “all” Jamaicans are the problem. What people are saying is that most new problems are cultural in nature, and most of them are Jamaicans. Every other nationality that arrives on Cayman shores assimilates. “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” Well, there is one culture in which many — particularly the young people — do not assimilate. I think that if a person likes things as in Jamaica, they should move there. Pretty simple.
Just occasionally, the “smarter people in Cayman” hit the nail on the head, and it doesn’t give them any pleasure to do so; they wish it weren’t so, but wishing won’t change it.
You are very generous in your response 2.26 , but, there is no hiding that Jamaicans have earned their reputation as criminals and social disruptors.
Cayman was a truly wonderful place before their takeover.
They have committed additional crimes by putting Saunders DuhWayne Mac and Kenneth in power to help them destroy Cayman.
Just fix the damn dump already before you even think about using a single cent to make a cruise port. Priorities.
Even if there was a plan for a pier that could be approved to go ahead, that infrastructure would not be for Caymanian citizens or residents. The Cayman Islands government shouldn’t accept those many lifetime cost lines for our account. The public should not be assumed to be expected to contribute a single cent towards foreign infrastructure for multi-billion dollar publicly-listed NYSE companies. Strong arming island territories into accepting that logic is part of the FCCA disinformation packet. We need leaders that understand the adversaries, and how the world works. Yes, waste and other resource management is part of that fundamental understanding. Vote wisely.
Take the millions and millions of dollars that they want to put into this and spend it on the youth and elderly people of this country. Spend it on the schools, hospitals, general Caymanian wellbeing. they have their heads in the wrong area! we need to look out for ourselves, the rest of the world is doing it why don’t we do the same and stop looking out for them when they can give a dam about us. please our own before we please another. When an airplane loses oxygen, they tell you to help yourself with air before helping the person next to you. Only means you have to make sure you are safe and taken cared enough to assist another person to make it also. Same thing can apply to us.
Use the billions instead to:
# Hire first world teachers and pay them appropriately………
# Use real/properly qualified teachers from first world countries to educate the children of Cayman about:
+ the 3 Rs & STEM subjects
+ proper diet
+ use of prophylactics and family roles &
responsibilities
# Provide for the real national debt including the unfunded healthcare and unfunded pensions.
Addiction interventions and treatment expenditures continue to be allocated close to nothing, because our MPs, as Governor Roper alleged, are operating in collusion with narco transshipment industry, numbers rackets, and gangland criminals. We need to vote wisely, rid our House of these thugs, remedy the obvious social failures, and launch some public enforcement inquests into the damage they’ve done.
Trade schools…not every school leaver can walk into a financial/legal services job.
Trade schools will provide a Caymanian workforce lessening the need for imported economic dependents.
This will interesting, – and exactly what ‘wisdom’ is in place for Ms Marla to challenge it to begin with ? 🤷🏻♀️
Even if there was a tolerable design scenario tabled from engineering experts for a first of kind blue water dock that would stay put and we could live with (and so far there isn’t), there’s no way that the Cayman Islands should be asked to contribute a nickel to subsidize infrastructure for multi-billion dollar super-leveraged NYSE recipients. All of these liners are saddled with colossal disclosed debt, quantities and purpose detailed in public exchange filings. On January 14th, Carnival (CCL) wrapped up a USD$2.45 billion term loan repricing with four large USA banks, for infrastructure and equipment. That’s on top of $4.5 billion outstanding in ECA-backed loans refinanced last August. The idea that a critical western Caribbean attraction and host, the Cayman Islands, would scramble to pay for someone else’s infrastructure, is a completely amateur expectation we keep hearing from the FCCA. The sooner the Cayman Islands is officially bankrupt, the better it will be for the vulture capitalists. We need to make sure that doesn’t happen, via piers, profligate ego-spend, or some other short-sighted gambit. Vote wisely Cayman. We need adults.
Exactly! We don’t need Charlatans dressed in drapes or any of their political allies.
We need educated adults.
The Chinese specialize in stalking grooming and screwing Caribbean Islands that get trapped in their promises of help and financing.
Ask the investors in Baha Mar how they got screwed by the Chinese, with the help of an Englishman who was trying to get in with CHEC to help them with a repeat performance in Cayman.
I value and respect what Marla write. I read all her reports every month.
That said, she is a hired gun. She wrote one report saying cayman didn’t really benefit from tourism at all and then another (paid for by Dart) extolling the value of SMB from a property and tourism boost to our economy.
I don’t want this pier. But if the idiots from the cruise ship gang had hired her before CPR, she would write about the economic benefits of cruise tourism.
There’s a lot of grey area on this subject, so any competent economist and writer could easily argue both point.
I have done I survey in Bar Harbor recording th3 purchases of 20,000 passengers returning to the ship. 1 in 4.7 carry a retail purchase. In amounts to an average 1.17 cents net profit per disembarked passenger.
From your skills in writing, I have zero confidence in what you said you did.
I voted for Alden at the last election because I approved of what he and his party had done with Covid.
But hell will freeze over before I vote for the PPM again. Any party that welcomes those three former “independent” ministers is a party with no real policies and certainly no principles – just like them. And any party that admits Bryan is a glutton for punishment. He is an opportunist, not a statesman. He will abandon it if it fails to win the election; and if it succeeds, he will fight to topple its leadership for his own advancement. It beggars belief that they are so stupid as to even entertain the idea of taking him on, let alone actually do it.
Both PPM and those individuals are making a mockery of party politics. They’ll join, and then abandon, whatever grouping they think will best serve their own personal ambitions. Don’t Hew and the rest of them see that? Or if they do, that they’re so desperate for candidate numbers that they’ll provide yet another platform for this gang of proven megalomaniac incompetents.
Come on PPM, defend yourselves. Tell me how and where I’m wrong.
PPM were not in a strong position to win. Taking KB on is sending a message to the voters and guaranteeing their loss.
Not just KB, but also KB.
Can we listen to the facts and get the data before we make a decision. So tired of all the PPM hater trolls. PPM support the referendum and to let the people decide. So get out there and vote and let the people decide if they event want cruise tourism .
We don’t have any facts and the vote is next month thanks to your beloved PPM.
No updated designs have been made or posted, no updated financial plan as been proposed, no updated EIA has been ordered. PPM and UPM told us we have to make a blind decision and you can bet the farm that if it passes the vote then suddenly that “non binding” referendum will become real binding real fast.
7.55. It’s not hate for PPM, it’s FEAR now that Kenneth is their deputy leader.
It’s fear that Dumdum and Juju are a part of the group. It’s fear that Mac and Saunders will be included in their Jamaicanisation program.
It’s fear that they will add cruise piers we can’t afford .
It’s fear that what’s left of our beach will be completely turned over to their Jamaican higgler culture.
We should all be afraid of PPM.
Sober up and screw your head on.
You’re not getting it. The people are not deciding. The referendum is NON Binding. This is by design, so the government can ignore if it is a NO outcome. Make no mistake about it the PPM wants the piers and if they get in, we will be plunged into massive debt for decades.
“The facts” 7.55 are plain to see.
George Town overrun by thousands of cheap tourists.
Roads jammed with taxis and rushing tour buses.
Jamaican placard wavers bugging visitors.
Unlock beach infested with higglers and drug dealers.
Caymanians unable to get on with their day in peace.
Cayman tourism image damaged beyon repair.
Want more “facts”.?
simply don’t vote for the PPM – Anyone of the other two parties has seem to understand the people loud and clear. We don’t want that port and we certainly don’t want that port in GT’s water- front.
If you remember it was once said by a PPM premier, a vote for the PPM is a direct vote for the port which was part and parcel throughout their mandate. Cayman you better wake up.
CIG Keep your hands off my land. You have no right to seize it.
It is for the people of the Cayman Islands to enjoy. Not three fishmongers and vendors as promulgated by McKeeva Bush, West Bays biggest disaster.
As Woodie Guthrie wrote:
This land is your land, this land is my land
This land is made for you and me
I cannot be any more explicit.
Shut up cry baby, when Honorable Seymour & Bryant get in with the rest of PPM they will ram the piers thru. Dart will manage and the Chinese will build. Cayman will be the big winner.
Build baby build!
And let’s see what letting the Chinese in here to build infrastructure will do to our relationship with the US. Are you even watching global politics? Do you realize majority of our food comes from there? Cayman wake up! Any party or politician(s) (McBeater & crew) that romanticizes being in bed with Chinese should not be voted back in. We know anyone who was or is affiliated with the UDP or PPM are nothing more than modern “Silk Road Strategists”
Put a cork in it mate, having the Chinese here will be great as they will lower our costs. Forget Trump & the USA, China will help us be a great place.Honorable Bush is a wise elder statesman who will assist the young leaders.
LOL
Think again. All Chinese goods go through the US first. All of our shipping companies operate out of the US. Think tarrifs.
Not true…lots come through the Panama Canal and then Jamaica….I have brought in containers that went no where near the USA….
BUT takes WAY LONGER, so we best be proactive and plan WAY in advance!
Can we mention US tariffs while we’re at it.
Tariffs only apply to imported goods not transhipment points.
Honorable should not be used to describe those individuals
Starting to feel like CNS is the only balanced news service I can find. In the world.
Totally agree, as for the others, well one is run by Dart and the other is in bed with Dart.
Exactly what is “balanced” when they OBVIOUSLY side against the port development.
Miss Dukharan has lost all credibility as she is now a director of Tax Justice Network.
https://taxjustice.net/our-directors/
Oh yeah, how terrible she must be to want billionaires and corporations to pay more taxes—any taxes in some cases.
She is doing good work.
Assume you don’t see the collateral damage to Our financial services industry.
If you think foreign tax codes, and remittances paid, moves the needle on the Cayman Islands financial services industry, then you don’t really understand that industry, or the work being done here. Nobody is hiding from taxation here.
I think she is the lady who praised the sterling job the Honorable Marco Archer did in respect to the finances of Cayman Islands.
Those days are sadly gone as no fiscal prudence is practiced by the Progressives any more
We are getting the port no matter what we say. Please vote for the candidates that have Cayman’s interests at heart so they can stop this cruise port madness.
Once PPM gets back in, things will become worse.
If idiots put PPM back in, it’s time for this born Caymanian to check out. I’m not going down with this ship.
Wait for me!
And me!
I will never turn tail and run. Stand tall and protect your country* in any way you can.
*cue the obsessive person who reminds me we’re a territory
Not a country we’re afraid.
Doesn’t detract from the point, love.
Thanks CPR for bringing the facts to this national discussion
Thank you CPR Cayman and Miss Dukharan for bringing sensible dialogue and data to this discussion.
Who did the cruise lines bribe because this referendum makes zero sense because CIG and Pro Port have zero information to share with the public besides feelings!
Hope even the blind will see proof that cruise tourism will not enhance our economy, will not make our roads wider, will not give us back the now higgler infested public beach….and it will not pay for the $450Million investment.
Make do with what we have and live within your means people.
No but Kirkonell & Dart will get richer. That is all that counts.
Q. So, how many ships do we think can tie up to a single finger pier per day, and what does that mean for in-port arrivals and spend? It would seem that going from six anchored and tendering ships, down to just two, would reduce both arrivals and the statistic probability of there being high-end suite spenders wanting their grandmother’s tea set, china figurines, or a Rolex. Who are these duty free product mix for? Is it good for Cayman’s reputation? Decades of private business strategy failure are not Cayman’s burden to shoulder.
Good questions
– How many ships? It depends on the plan. How many piers is the referendum approving?
– The last plan called for 2 piers / 4 ships. And on 6 ship days the other two ships would still anchor offshore. What is the plan for 6 ship days that the referendum is going to approve?
– When was the last time you saw a 6 ship day in GT? If you think the referendum is going to implement a tourism management plan for the number of ships/visitors per day, either up or down from current numbers, where is that in the referendum question?
– What’s that you say? We already have a tourism management plan that sets a cap on cruse arrivals (back when that was an issue) but we never followed it before and just increased the number every few years after exceeding the last cap? So what in the referendum means we’ll follow a plan when there is no plan being voted on?
Good questions.
In past winter months, it was not uncommon for a 6 ship day, at least once or twice a month. First come, first served anchorage parking, on a more or less even playing field.
PACI website lists ships in town. There used to be an app in the app store called “ships in town” too. Have a look.
https://www.caymanport.com/ship-schedules/
If 2 or 4 liners get priority finger parking, it’s no longer an even playing field, and the pier would have the effect of repelling these extra ships and foot traffic. It would be unfair.
We must factor also the hidden motivating ADA fines and accident/disability settlements from various tragedies, that the liner lobby want to defray onto us with solid piers. We are not getting their true motivations, nor will the outcomes necessarily correlate to the current FCCA reasoning.
We can’t continue to accept their lies at face value, without drilling into the financing and consumer issues/risks of that industry.
The Cayman Islands needs to focus on building high value industries such as insurance, banking, medical care. These require highly educated and skilled people, not taxi drivers who shuttle people around the island when a cruise ship comes in. Focus on three things 1) education 2) education 3) education for young people. The real question is; can the country do it???
Are we also prepared to tackle the third pillar of the economy: narco transshipment industry, gangs, addiction, numbers, and illegality? Roper was correct when he suggested there are MPs actively promoting this pillar. The RCIPS haven’t arrested a known crime boss in over 20 years. The judiciary/DPP give these “employees” slaps on the wrist. There’s a lot wrong with the underpinnings at the moment, though we often pretend things are just fine. This known, widely acknowledged, but disregarded economic force is also the headwind for your three points.
Simple answer – No. But that is not due to a lack of resources, but a lack of will. CIG simply does not value education. If our youth were better educated, there would be better candidates, more demands for improving the quality of life, etc. The gravy train for our under educated, incompetent Ministers would stop – and that is not what they want. They need an uneducated electorate!
Not just Kirk and Dart pushing for this.
Recently status granted merchants are screaming the loudest for “the sake of our community”..Total BS.
Let’s not forget the Tortuga people
They’re shouting the loudest.
6.26am You forgot the Hamatys
8.48.
See 4.48 and 12.03 comments.
Plain to see that, but they’re doing it all for the sake of Caymanians..they say.