Bush says he will lead tourism to recovery
(CNS): McKeeva Bush has said that he intends to make Cayman the preferred destination in the Caribbean, and while he said he did not have all the answers, he told the industry that he intends to lead the sector to full recovery. The new leader of government business said he will be meeting with local industry stakeholders on a regular basis and next week he had meetings planned with the FCCA in Miami, followed by discussions with airlines servicing Cayman. He said there were a number of immediate needs to address but he was also looking at the long term situation.
Speaking at the Westin last week with members of the Cayman Islands Tourism Association (CITA), Association for the Advancement of Cruise Tourism (ACT) and the Sister Islands Tourism Association (SITA), along with members of his government, Bush said government would move quickly to help make a positive difference.
The LoGB explained that immediate initiatives would involve Cayman Airways, the cruise industry and particularly the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA). He also said that government would receive regular briefings about the national airline.
“I need to be brought up to speed on the internal budgets,” he said. “Then we will look to prioritise our funds for marketing, promotions and product development, especially customer service and human capital development, to make our three islands the preferred destination in the Caribbean.”
Noting that local tourism has weathered trying times in the past, notably 9/11 and Hurricane Ivan, Bush said that the inbuilt resiliency of a well-organised and inherently talented industry would once again prevail. “I am confident that by working hand-in-hand and sticking together, despite our differences and special interests, we can achieve a full recovery in the years ahead,” he added. “Let’s get to work to make the tourism industry and product better. I don’t pretend to have all the answers but I am here to lead.”
He also spoke about the plans for the airport and port development and the need to maintain a balance between cruise and stay-over tourism, since Cayman, and particularly the industry’s local businesses, both needed to thrive.
Category: Business
Hello Cali girl.
I am not offended by Hardworking Caymanian or the points they make. I understand how difficult it must be for Caymanians of all ages to get ahead financially here in their own country – more so now thanks to Hardworking Caymanian.
As for the job/money-earning situation: let me say that I am appalled and angered whenever a Caymanian says that qualified Caymanians are being passed over for jobs in favor of expats. There is a system with laws and regulations in place that should prevent that from happening and I do not understand why that system is not working. What I would like to see is names mentioned each time this happens, instead of the standard generalization that expats are being favored. If companies are breaking the law, then identify them publicly. Otherwise, they get away with overlooking Caymanians and the situation never changes.
I never said Caymanians do not deserve higher paying jobs. If Caymanians are qualified for the job, then damned right they should get it. That was never my thought or statement. Strange as it may seem, I believe in a Cayman for Caymanians. I realize that expats are in many ways a "necessary evil" to the Cayman way of life.
As for a thicker skin, I am not saying Hardworking Caymanian is "just out to bash expats". However, I do believe when someone can defend themselves without making inaccurate generalizations then all our discussions will be more beneficial.
When someone says "all Caymanians are lazy," that statement is grossly untrue and unfair to the vast majority of Caymanians. As are generalizations that all expats are highly paid, that they do not care about Cayman or Caymanians, that the only motivating factor for everything they do is cash – and these are the attitudes that come through time and time again in these comment areas.
As for going back "home", I think I’ll stay and continue to engage in the discussion. There’s probably a thing or two I will learn and perhaps I’ll be able to add some value to the discussion from my own perspective.
Hardworking Caymanian, thank you for your response to my post.
The example you sited of the Filipino lady has less to do with how much she makes than with how she lives. If you or I were to live with seven other expats in a two bedroom apartment, our cost of housing would go down dramatically. If we only bought goods in Miami, our cost of living would also go down. You or I could live like that but we choose not to. By the way, expats "tend" to NOT live that way.
I don’t know too many expats that complain about the high cost of living in Cayman. They certainly acknowledge it, there’s no way around it. But it is what it is and everyone knows what it is when they come here – people just find ways to deal with it.
You said in your first post, "don’t come with that crap insinuating the Caymanians are lazy and only want the good high paying jobs!" The Ministry of Education bit was simply a nasty response to point out that, at least among a segment of the population, such an attitude IS a problem. But if you go anywhere in the world, older people will complain about the attitudes of younger people.
Perhaps I have missed your points yet again: As a Caymanian you want to live in Cayman. Absolutely understandable. It’s expensive to live here. Agreed. You want to sustain a certain lifestyle. Most of us do. You have to make a lot of money to sustain that lifestyle which means you’re looking for jobs in a certain salary range. Is that it?
If those are the points, seems like they could be made without bashing expats.
But generally speaking, it is my personal opinion that many of the jobs that we were discussing initially (customer service jobs in tourism and the like) COULD be filled by young Caymanians. Most young people in countries all over the globe start with a lower echelon, lower paying job. Thisenables them to earn money on their own, save some money since most of them are still living at home, learn people skills as well as learning a lot about themselves in the workplace. Then, when they are ready, if they don’t want to pursue whatever they are doing as a career, they can go into another area having gained some income, some experience and some maturity – all good things.
Hi Hardworking Caymanian – I just wanted you to know that I understand what you
are saying because I have a Caymanian friend who is going through the same thing.
As an expat I am not offended by your points because they are simply facts that even
as an expat I can see happening on island.
“Perhaps I have missed your points yet again: As a Caymanian you want to live
in Cayman. Absolutely understandable. It’s expensive to live here. Agreed.
You want to sustain a certain lifestyle. Most of us do. You have to make a
lot of money to sustain that lifestyle which means you’re looking for
jobs in a certain salary range. Is that it?”
Yes, I believe this is Hardworking Caymanian’s point (although I stand corrected).
They are not specifically speaking of young Caymanians but Caymanians in general
that may not be so young. Its the Caymanians that are mature and have long term responsibilities
such as a mortgage that Hardworking Caymanian is referring to. Hence the reason they
don’t want the lower paying jobs. I also sense that Hardworking Caymanian was a bit offended
to the Caymanian bashing that was hinting that Caymanians were lazy or not
willing to work hard as this is not the real reason most Caymanians don’t want lower paying jobs.
I think you and others need to grow a thicker skin and stop assuming every time
Caymanians try to defend themselves that they are just out to bash expats.
At the end of the day, we are just visitors here making a living and have no
right to tell a native that they do not deserve to have higher paying jobs.
As expats if we feel that abused and bashed then perhaps we should take Hardworking
Caymanians advice and go back home.
To Cerridwen…..
I believe you missed my point. Let me re-iterate….
"Obviously, there is quite a range of incomes earned by expats, some more and some less than Caymanians."
Confirmed, however my point was that even the expats that earn less than Caymanians still come out on top. Face it…….No person will leave their home of origin to come to another country to live and work unless it benefited them in some way. So even the expat that will work for $150 a week obviously thinks the $150 is worth their time. It has to do with the value of the currency and the tax free benefit! For example, a lovely Filipino lady that works in a local chinese restaurant told me that it would take her 1 year in the Phillipines to make the equivalent of CI$1,000. She earns CI$1,200 per month working in the chinese restuarant. It would take her over 12 years in the Phillippines to make the equivalent of what she makes in Cayman in 1 year. I asked her how do you live on that? She told me that her and 7 Fililpinos live in a 2 bedroom appt and split the rent of CI$1,800 per month. She also said that she doesnt buy anything in Cayman. She went on to tell me that even if she just needs a pair of socks she wants until another Filipino goes back home and send by them to buy her socks because it is much cheaper at home. Do you think a Caymanian could live off of CI$1,200 paying the bills I mentioned? Just like how that Fillipino lady is working to pay her mortgage back home, Caymanians would like to make enough to pay their mortgage in Cayman. Unfortunately, our CI$1 is equalivant to CI$1 so living here permanently and working here doesnt afford us the increase in earning power! Which brings me back to my point……..its not that we think we are too good for the lower paying jobs, we simply cant afford to work for less than our living cost! I have nothing against any nationality and in fact I am happy that my island can help people from all facets of life. My concern is that local people can barely make ends meet on a monthly bases because the salaries Caymanians earn are not aligned with the cost of living here in CAYMAN.
"Some expats have children, which usually means two jobs, which means two cars and daycare and all of those expenses. And expats shop at Foster’s and all the other stores Caymanians shop at and pay the same prices. Many expats also have utility bills such as power and water and phone, just like Caymanians".
Again, you missed my point. I am not saying that expats do not have to encounter these costs. My point was that a lot of them can afford the costs! If they couldnt, they would not be here. And they are certaintly not living and working in Cayman just to use all of their income on the cost of living in Cayman. They must be making enough that will increase their standard of living or add some kind of value to their living. I am sorry if I may come across harsh but I do not feel sorry for any expat, regardless of nationality, race, creed or color, that come here and complain about the cost of living. Every single expat has a home to go back to. If life is so hard in Cayman then why are you here? I certaintly would not go to another man’s country to suffer. Unfortunately, Caymanians dont have any other home to go to, so you could appreciate why we are so territorial with our island. We dont mind sharing it but please respect us and allow us to make an affordable living as well!
"how many expats do you see living on Seven Mile Beach or in fancy condos?"
Missed another point. I was trying to point out that Caymanians do not want to earn more money to live a luxurious life in multi million dollar homes – they want to earn enough to pay their standard home mortgages (or qualify for one)!
"A few years ago the Ministry of Education partnered with private sector to survey the needs of the business community and to plan how to better prepare young Caymanians to successfully enter the workplace. The number one challenge, by far, was the attitude of young Caymanians: they only wanted "the good paying jobs", they were unwilling to work their way up in an organization – they wanted to start in management where the money was, and once in an organization many were underperforming their expat counterparts (translation: they did not want to do the work)."
Where are you heading with this? Ah…I think I know…. Caymanians are lazy and dont want to work? I will not generalize and say that all Caymanians are hard working etc because like all nationalities, you have your good and bad. But I will say there are hard working, educated, qualified Caymanians among you. The Ministry of Education conducted the survey and by no surprise the private sector would come up with more excuses for why they dont want to hire or train and develop a Caymanian. Why is this a surprise to you? If it wasnt for surveys like this, how would the private sector justify their reasons for needing permits?
If you feel that expats are struggling with the cost of living like Caymanians do, then perhaps you should go back home where the grass is greener.
You ask how Mac got voted in? Mac got voted in because no matter what you think of him, he is not afraid to make decisions and will not tell you that his "hands are tied Bobo" or (my favorite) "I don’t have any pull with that Dept.", like the previous minister. You might not always like what Mac does, but at least he does not suffer from analysis paralysis like the PPMers. He will tell you how it is. He is also a world traveller and knows the ways of the world unlike Mr. "I don’t like to fly" Tibbetts who was so small-minded. AND MAC RETURNS PHONE CALLS! Something unheard of by the PPMers. That’s why!
How did this man get in if most Caymanians have so much negative stuff to say about him? Makes you wonder?!
the same way George W. Bush did in the USA…the same way Gordon Brown has in the UK (both unpoplar)…do I need to list anymore to make my point?! Not sure what you are implyig here?!
Now to answer your question with assumptions: Oh boy this is hard: West Bayers…we (we because I am proudly a West Bayer…not so much identifying with what we did…if you get me) we locked him with four seats and well he was on his way to claiming a majority.
Anyway, we could not have done it on our own, and obviosly other districts identified with the way our Bayers voted….for whatever the reason.
"How did this man get in if most Caymanians have so much negative stuff to say about him? Makes you wonder?!"
People are distracted from his shortcomings by the crises of the moment which they believe he can fix because of his reputation for being proactive, decisive and focussed on the economy.
Hardworking Caymanian,
In one paragraph you confirm you "don’t want the customer service jobs [which are filled by expats] because they are lower paid" and in the next you are criticizing the "highly paid expats". Obviously, there is quite a range of incomes earned by expats, some more and some less than Caymanians.
As for costs of living, rent can be as much as a mortgage, although many times it is not. Still, housing eats up a significant portion of most expats income too. And then there’s car insurance and possibly health insurance and renters insurance and other similar costs. Granted, not everyone has to pay all of these insurance costs, but many do. Some expats have children, which usually means two jobs, which means two cars and daycare and all of those expenses. And expats shop at Foster’s and all the other stores Caymanians shop at and pay the same prices. Many expats also have utility bills such as power and water and phone, just like Caymanians. Also, as as you mentioned later in your post, expats have to send their children to "high priced private schools" while Caymanians enjoy the luxury of a free education. So where is the expat advantage?
And do not pretend that most expats receive a housing allowance and sign on bonuses. A few do, but by and large most expats must pay their way here out of the money they earn at their job – just like you.
It was interesting to learn that expats "pile up in a 1 or 2 bedroom apt with other expats". It has been my experience that expats generally sleep one to a bedroom unless they are involved with another person. And I find the same holds true for Caymanians. So, in a two bedroom apartment or a two bedroom house, you might find 2 or 4 or maybe 5 or 6 (if there are small kids living several to a room) living there. Not exactly "piling up".
Also, I’m sure expats will be glad to know they only have to work in Cayman a short while before they have accumulated "enough money" and can "go back home", presumably to retire. I’ll wager most expat workers are unaware of such a benefit of living in Cayman.
"You don’t have to worry about the high cost of groceries because you live on lettuce and rabbit food in order to squander all your money in the bank or wire it back home!" Ludicrous. Might as well stop calling them expats and call them "nibblers" or something equally silly. Obviously, they are people, not rabbits, and they eat a wide variety of foods all of which costs the same (whether purchased in a store or a restaurant) for expat as well as Caymanian.
And finally, how many expats do you see living on Seven Mile Beach or in fancy condos? If they are staying in such a place, they are most likely renting, since they cannot afford to own them. Also, most of those properties are occupied, or at least owned, by persons who do not live here. It is extremely unlikely that the expats you see working in the wide variety of positions they fill are living on Seven Mile Beach or in fancy condos. They rent apartments or condos from Caymanians.
A few years ago the Ministry of Education partnered with private sector to survey the needs of the business community and to plan how to better prepare young Caymanians to successfully enter the workplace. The number one challenge, by far, was the attitude of young Caymanians: they only wanted "the good paying jobs", they were unwilling to work their way up in an organization – they wanted to start in management where the money was, and once in an organization many were underperforming their expat counterparts (translation: they did not want to do the work).
That is crap.
Thank you Hardworking Caymanian. You really broke it down to get the point across and explained what most of us feel regarding surviving here. I for one as a Caymanian would love to work in the tourist industry; It’s so gratifying to be able to recommend and show up the beauty of your Island to those who spend money to come here. I actually use to work in a hotel as an Accountant part time to help pay for school and I loved helping out the front desk from time to time, but had to leave it as it was too much on my plate between School and my dayjob, and the fact that my job in the Financial industry combined with my spouse’s is what keeps food on the table and a roof over our head for our family of 4. So it’s the sacrifice of trying to be resposible to provide for our family. I do hope something is done though to help promote tourism within the schools and encourage the youth to embrace who they are and promote that "caymanian" in them. I think if good program is done attract the the kids that just leave school, that arent out on their own yet and no responsibilities and those wages are reasonable for them, it would be an excellent way to bring in the "Cayman" product. In turn through hotel training classes and great mentorship, as they grow older, they gain experience and love of the industry to occupy the manangement positions and ensure that theyounger Caymanians after them follow the same route to promote Cayman. This was how it was done before, the hotels were filled with Caymanians and Visitors loved the locals. But then the big hotels came, promising more jobs but cheaper salaries to help their profit, which appealed to single expats who benefit from the currency conversion, and caused the Caymanians to become unhappy cause there were no increases of pay to meet the cost of living that they had to face. Thus causing the chain effect of more Caymanians moving to the finance industry which may just be a job for them and not a career, because the the money is the right pay, and opens the door for tourism product to become "non-caymanian". I use to wonder and ask my coworkers at the hotel how they handled providing for their families on less than $1600 and all I got was "Child, it hard!". We have to sort this out for all involved, because we are ALL involved.
It’s almost Shakesperean that the Destroyer attempts to disguise himself as the Saviour!
Mac you broke it… I guess you should fix it.
Let’s a have show of hand from all the people who think the overcrowding of George Town from the thousands of cruiseship passengers who visit on a daily basis has helped our tourism product….
No hands?
Ok then lets have a show of hands from all the people who think that the 7 storey buildings that dominate the once beautiful 7 mile beach have also helped our tourism product?
No hands ?
Well guess who was the genius behind the over crowding and the environmentally inconsiderate over-development of 7 Mile Beach…. MCKEEVA.
Tourist complain about the over crowding in GT and the over development ALL THE TIME.
I find it laughable that he was the one who made us spend over 20 million on the new port for the frugal cruise passengers in GT and he also had the audacity to say he wanted to put another one in WEST BAY, only to have him get up infront of the country now and say he’s going to lead the recovery.
Is he going to knock down the sunset blocking 7 storey buildings and replant the beautiful caussarina trees that once framed the coastline?
The fact remains.. we need development to make our guest feel comfortable and to enhance the Cayman experience. But the selling out and desacration that happened to the Island under his original watch is what truly RUINED the Cayman Tourism Product.
No thought for teh environment or conservation of natural beauty that cayman once offered.
And furthermore, I’m willing to bet the only reason he’s huffing and puffing about the Hyatt is probably because Dart interested in the property. XXXXXXX
A leopard can lose weight but it can’t change it’s spots.
We lost our charm because of what YOU did and YOUR policies. Stop talking garbage like you are the saviour for the island. This is one young Caymanian that hasn’t forgotten.
Let’s hope he don’t sell Cayman Airways to anyone!
Dont be silly 007, Caymanians wouldn’t do the customer service jobs because they are lower paid and hard work. Even Caymanians with no qualifications or a basic grasp of English feel they have the right to be at least a finance director and will settle for nothing less.
"Dont be silly 007, Caymanians wouldn’t do the customer service jobs because they are lower paid and hard work. Even Caymanians with no qualifications or a basic grasp of English feel they have the right to be at least a finance director and will settle for nothing less."
Your right, we dont want the customer service jobs because they are lower paid and hard work. We want the finance director job that the expat holds that pay big bucks and you dont have to do anything all day!
Let me provide some insight for you……Caymanians dont want the lower paying jobs because we have to live permanently in Cayman. I dont know if you highly paid expats realised this but the cost of living in Cayman is high! Caymanians cannot take a job that pays less than $1,800 a month if we have to pay a mortgage between $1,800 – $2,000 and in addition to that we have to pay house insurance of $4,500 + per year. And god forbid we have kids to look after….they come with a cost as well! Family insurance is deducted from our salaries monthy and for a family of 3 it can range from $350 per month and up! And like expats we eat, and I dont need to tell anyone how much 2 bags of groceries cost at Fosters….at least $75 – $100 per week but obviously much more if you have children. CUC is killing us monthly with bills ranging from $300 and up for a 2,000 sq ft house!
I could go on with the costs associated with living in Cayman but the fact is….Caymanians cant afford to take a lower paying job! But you expats wouldnt understand that because when you come to Cayman your companies give you housing allowance and sign on bonuses. You dont have to cover half the bills local people have to deal with! And if you do, it probably wouldnt even put a dent in your income!…
If you happen to be an expat that works in the lower paying jobs….lets face it….its tax free and if its CI dollars your paid in then you will have a healthy amount when converted and sent home! The lower paid expats still come out on top of Caymanians! You might not get housing allowance but you tend to pile up in a 1 or 2 bedroom apt with other expats to cut cost because you know that you only have to live like that until you accumulate enough money and go back home. You dont have to worry about the high cost of groceries because you live on lettuce and rabbit food in order to squander all your money in the bank or wire it back home!
So dont come with that crap insinuating that Caymanians are lazy and only want the good high paying jobs! Caymanians need jobs that pay salaries that are aligned with the cost of living so that they can survive in their own country! It has nothing to do with the glamour that you think surrounds the post! Look around the island…..how many Caymanians do you see living on seven mile beach or in fancy condos? how many Caymanians can send their children to high priced private schools such as Cayman International? Not too many! Dont you get it? Its about keeping up with the costs of living! Thats why we dont want the lower payingjobs! We cant afford to!
I hope you get a basic grasp of my English!
007 for sure – You don’t see many Caymanians in service jobs for two reasons. One they are low paid and therefore Caymanians won’t do them. They require good customer service skills, which unfortunately the caymanians that would be willing to do the low paid jobs will not be able to provide. Americans and Canadians are used to good service at home and bring that culture with them here. Caymanians in lower paid jobs are not happy, and this shows with their poor service skills and attitude.
I’m all for putting more Caymanians into the tourist industry as you are right it would really authenticate the tourism offering. But this isn’t going to happen unless caymanians lower themselves to doing these jobs and learn a few basic customer service principles.
If you don’t agree with my comments on poor service, then look at the few places where Caymanians do work on the front line (e.g. Lime, Westtel, Supermarkets) and you can see what I mean by miserable, slow and poor service. As opposed to the majority of bars and restaurants where the majority of staff are American or Canadian and the service is usually very good.
“As opposed to the majority of bars and restaurants where the majority of staff are
American or Canadian and the service is usually very good.”
If we are going to be honest and speak of culture, then I would say that the Filipinos
and Asian decent people provide the best service on island. They cater to your every need and
treat you with nothing but respect despite your nationality or economic status.
On the contrary, I find that the majority of Americans and Canadians don’t provide
good or high levels of customer service. At least when it comes to serving locals
but it could just be that superior complex that North Americans tend to
have.
I am surprised that the associations in that Industry is not blaming the Roll-over policy for the ills of that Industry as well, as they were over a year ago, when the policy had just got implemented. I guess it would look quite foolish an argument now. I will share my arguments again on this…because Caymanians were our frontline staff in all our hotels in years pass (The galleon, Holiday Inn, condos etc.).
The rollover is here to stay! Get use to it. We owe you nothing but honest pay for a honest days’ work. We are asserting ourselves in our country. We not asking anymore. This debate is over….oops I would feel much better about that thought, if we did not have to deal with a pro-expat "am for caymanians BUT" government!
I dispise that Mr. Bush thinks he is the only one who understands who or what built this country. It bothers me that one can confuse personal wealth accumulation from foreign-money, dealing-making, buy-out investors with wholesale mass-population growth. Trust me this is debateable. Having to "tap-out" a lil line to fish or backing a lil sand for sand yards is not indicative of poverty!
Yes Mr. Bush, plantain trash beds were not the best, yes mosquitoes were horrible BUT I am tired of you belittling the contributions of our fore-fathers to justify your "singapore vision". You get with the programme and remember the shoulders of the Caymanians of which you are standing on….yes the ones taht voted for you the first time you ran in West Bay and did not get elected, the Caymanians that voted for you for years and you were second elected…we are claiming you back (if that is possible)….all these new children that are calling you "papa" well you please remember that you have a pile of children that is waiting on their lil allotement at home. I know you remmeber those words :ALLOTEMENT. Let me tell you: I am disgusted everytime you fling in Caymanian faces "Caymanians I am for you BUT….I support you BUT" followed by a long ramble of expat/foreign investor justification. We owe nothing to noone but money for their work…so you stop selling out our country papa.
So my expat friends…if unna coming to work and enjoy unna lil-self and mingle a lil-bit and do unna part to help us keep the miracle going dont expect us to give unna our souls too and for goodness sake leave papa-Bush alone…cause we not rowing no more…we taking him back ok.
tanks.
Another problem is when we aloud so many NON CAYMANIANS into all or front line jobs that tourist can NO LONGER see the CAYMANIANS anymore .I find it so disgusting to go into hotels and see name tags .Hi my name is________I am from every where else under the globe except CAYMAN .WHY???? When can we fix that MAC ?????
Those jobs simply do not pay enough to interest young Caymanians. Whichis unfortunate because there are so many wonderful young people that could be working the front lines and giving visitors a truly Caymanian experience.
Look at the facts….tourism was recovering….from 167,000 air arrivals in 2005 to 302,000 in 2008 and then the world recession started to bite us in September 2008.
Is McKeeva that full of himself that he believes he can fix the global ecomonic crisis ? Certainly he can’t be that much of a meat head. Clifford ensured that Cayman was well poised for the rebound from the global economic crisis which is expected to take place in late 2010 and there’s nothing that McKeeva can do about it until it recovers naturally from things that are so far out of Mac’s control that it’s pitiful…….BUT I betcha he’ll be beating his chest in 2010 about how he spearheaded the recovery…..but then again he has removed the Caymanian qualified professionals that Clifford had in place in the Ministry of Tourism and replaced them with incompetence and personnel who wouldn’t recognise tourism if it was looking them straight in their faces.
But yet they talk about training and protecting Caymanians….hypocrits !!!
Please…..provide me with details as to how Chuckie “ensured that Cayman was well poised for the rebound
from the global economic crisis which is expected to take place in late 2010″. We
want to make sure he gets his credit when its due or critise Mac when he doesn’t
follow Chuckie’s yellow brick road to recovery.
Cut the air fare, Mac. We’ve been saying it for at least 30 years. Cut the air fare. It would be a start.
But the previous poster is correct about our hotel/restaurant prices and overall product. It’s NOT a lovely island (CCM) compared to the rest of the Caribbean but it has things going for it-like no beggars and not too much crime targeting tourists. But we gotta get the people here and these airfares are totally absurd.
"Bush has got a very hard job to do. Cayman’s tourist product is dated and losing attractiveness to potential vacationers".
Bush has contributed to this himself by permitting WB Road to be turned into a concrete jungle. We are developing for everyone, he said. Well we have now lost that Island charm we once had.
"They didn’t invest in the tourism attractions or encouraging a more diverse product".
Bush over-invested in Boatswain Beach apparently not understanding we could never make that money back. Clifford tried something with the Dolphins, but I don’t know how well it is doing.
Bush has got a very hard job to do. Cayman’s tourist product is dated and losing attractiveness to potential vacationers. The attractions are tired and expensive, the hotels are very expensive and not as good as those in rival caribbean resorts, the bars and restaurants are the only redeeming feature but quite often out of the price range of a lot of tourists.
Georgetown has a very limited offering to stay over tourists, because it is full of cruise-shippers who as we all know, are not the most desirable people and walking around a small town with 15,000 rowdy americans is not the ideal vacation for most people (unless they are unforatunate enough to be on the boat!).
Even the cruiseshippers can’t have much to enjoy in Georgetown which is almost a carbon copy of Cozumel or Nassau where most of the boats have already been to. Imagine the dissappointment when they get off the ship and all they see are gold/diamond stores and luxury goods stores. They’d have already seen hundreds of the same in evry other port.
I’ve been on a quite few flights lately to and from US/UK and often they are almost empty. Surely no other airline except the government funded Cayman airways is going to be able to continue running flights here if they are making a loss. I would imagine more flights being cut, like Air Jamaica did recently.
It’s a lovely island but the government have taken the tourists for granted while the whole world was doing well and people were vacationing more often. They didn’t invest in the tourism attractions or encouraging a more diverse product. Now that people are cutting back and we’ve seen first hand that visitor numbers have plummeted, they are going to have to work twice as hard to compete.