Tourism
5 ships in one day erodes ‘quality over quantity’ idea
(CNS): Commitments made early in the PACT administration by both Premier Wayne Panton and Tourism Minister Kenneth Bryan to switch the focus of cruise tourism from quantity to quality were undermined Wednesday when five ships arrived in the George Town Harbour. Similarly, plans to spread calls across the week have failed to take root as […]
Designers wanted for tourism waterfront project
(CNS): The tourism ministry has opened a public bid for architects to design the proposed waterfront tourism attraction project in George Town on North Church Street. The planned facility will be situated on land the government purchased over a year ago for around $5.6 million to develop a new tourist attraction and entertainment centre with […]
7MB pressure grows as hotel buses guests north
(CNS): Seven Mile Beach is coming under even more pressure as the impact of erosion and the lack of access begins to bite. This holiday season the Grand Cayman Marriott Beach Resort has been transporting guests by minibus to a stretch of the beach owned by the Dart Group, north of the Kimpton Seafire Resort, […]
Peak-season visitors approach 2019 numbers
(CNS): The number of overnight visitors arriving in the Cayman Islands in October and November reached around 90% of the record-breaking numbers of 2019 before COVID-19 turned the tourism sector on its head. The recovery of tourism for the peak season means the year-end figures for 2022 are going to be far better than predicted, […]
Bush secures WIZ freeze for boats at Stingray City
(CNS): McKeeva Bush MP (WBW) has successfully steered through a proposed new moratorium on Wildlife Interaction Zone licences at the Sandbar and Stingray City while the government creates a task force to review all watersports operations in the North Sound. In his first private member’s motion since returning to the back benches, Bush said Caymanian […]
CAL breaks records as tourism numbers keep climbing
(CNS): Cayman Airways Limited exceeded pre-pandemic numbers for both total passenger count and passenger revenue in October, setting new records for the national airline, a release from CAL stated. And according to Department of Tourism statistics, between 1 January and 30 September, a total of 180,624 visitors arrived in the Cayman Islands. With CAL alone […]
Unused 7MB vendor huts may solve trader troubles
(CNS): A collection of colourful, but woefully small, vendor huts on Seven Mile Public Beach could help resolve the problem of irregular trading at the location, according to the Public Lands Commission board chairman. The huts were part of the infamous NRA deal with Dart that led to the closure of the West Bay Road […]
Bryan hunting for overseas tourism investors
(CNS): Tourism Minister Kenneth Bryan was on the road again last week, this time to the Dominican Republic for the Caribbean Hotel and Investment Conference & Operations Summit (CHICOS), where he was rubbing shoulders with regional and international investors, leading decision-makers, governmental representatives, developers, tourism officials, hotel brand executives and others in the hospitality sector, […]
High hopes for visitor boost from CAL’s LAX route
(CNS): Both government and the private sector are pinning their hopes on the new Cayman Airways direct flight to Los Angeles to drive an increase in visitor numbers and a boost for tourism businesses as the sector moves into its first post-pandemic high season with fully open borders. Cayman neeeds to significantly increase arrivals after […]
New CITA board expects bumper high season
(CNS): The Cayman Islands Tourism Association has elected local watersports operator Troy Leacock as its new president, heading up a largely new board of directors. The sector faces the prospect of the busiest-ever winter season, as visitors are expected to flock back to the Cayman Islands after the border closure and pandemic-related restrictions decimated the […]
Beach replenishment could be a costly failure
(CNS): Tourism Minister Kenneth Bryan has said that bringing in sand to replace the stretch of Seven Mile Beach that is being eroded could be a costly failure for the public purse. During the Cayman Islands Tourism Association meeting last week, the Marriott hotel’s general manager asked the minister what the government was doing about […]
