Tag: Moses Kirkconnell
Moses grapples with tourism rebuild
(CNS): Tourism Minister Moses Kirkconnell has said that his ministry is now working on a three-year plan to rebuild Cayman’s tourism sector after the devastating blow delivered by the COVID-19 pandemic. The domestic market is likely to be the only source of income for the hospitality industry for the remainder of this year, but Kirkconnell […]
Tourism plan coming, claims minister
(CNS): Cabinet will be issuing a formal order shortly that Cayman airports and ports will be closed until 31 August. But officials have all indicated this is unlikely to mean the borders will be opening the next day. At the press briefing on Thursday Tourism Minister Moses Kirkconnell failed to send a clear message to […]
2020 arrivals off to flying start
(CNS): Following the most successful year in the history of Cayman Islands tourism last year, 2020 got off to a flying start, although this may be curtailed as the spread of coronavirus impacts the tourism and travel industries worldwide. January was another record breaking month for overnight guests, which follows 2019, a year that broke […]
CIG denies clash with Carnival, as ships bypass Cayman
(CNS): The Ministry of Tourism has offered no explanation as to why two Carnival ships bumped Grand Cayman off their itineraries this week. The Carnival Freedom, which carries around 3,000 passenger, was scheduled to arrive Thursday and the Carnival Horizon, which carries 4,000 passengers, should be calling today, Wednesday, but instead have been diverted to […]
Cruise creates conflict in tourism plan
(CNS): The long awaited National Tourism Management Plan makes it clear that the Cayman Islands already has a very serious problem with cruise visitor congestion and its impact on the environment. But government’s solution is to build berthing facilities to grow the numbers, conflicting with the wider aims of this latest plan to improve and […]
Visitor numbers reach historic highs
(CNS): The Cayman Islands welcomed 502,739 overnight guests last year, breaking the half a million milestone for the first time, making this an historic high for the sector. According to the Department of Tourism, the year’s total figure was an 8.6% increase on 2018, almost 40,000 more visitors and the tenth consecutive year of growth […]
Moses to talk to operators in port firing line
(CNS): The tourism minister has said he will have “conversations” with the dozens of watersport operators, as well as bars, shops and other businesses set to close as a result of the proposed cruise port project. While government has heavily promoted this project as being about making sure Cayman remains in the cruise business in […]
Minister freezes licences for Stingray City
(CNS): Environment Minister Dwayne Seymour has announced a freeze on licences given to commercial operators selling trips to the Sandbar and Stingray City because of the overcrowding. Tourism Minister Moses Kirkconnell has flagged this issue several times recently but it was Seymour who told the Legislative Assembly on Thursday that constraints on the Department of […]
Turtle farm to open Brac centre
(CNS): Government has allocated CI$2 million over the next two years to open a satellite Cayman Turtle Centre in Cayman Brac. The centre was described as having a particular focus on the conservation of hawksbill turtles. But as Tourism Minister Moses Kirkconnell was questioned in Finance Committee on Wednesday about the new project, it emerged […]
Key port info coming after referendum
(CNS): During the second public meeting about the proposed cruise pier project officials made it clear that much of the information about the environmental impact will not be available until next year. The public will also not see the final business case justifying the controversial proposal until after the referendum on it. When asked specific […]
Minister reveals more tourism records
(CNS): The unprecedented success of the tourism sector in Cayman was confirmed by the minister during his contribution to the budget debate Wednesday, when he revealed new records relating to numbers, rooms and spending. Moses Kirkconnell told his legislative colleagues that tourism growth was outpacing all other regional destinations. By the end of 2019, visitors […]
