Archive for February, 2009
DoT looks to gimmicks to shore up tourism business
(CNS): With a challenging year ahead, the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism is turning to skateboard camps, free holidays for kids and romanceto try and hold on to the islands’ share of the dwindling tourism market as the industry faces serious decline. Following a number of strategic meetings in Miami, the Minister of Tourism said that the department was doing all it could to mitigate the impact of the economic downturn.
Minster of Tourism Charles Clifford said he was cautiously optimistic that Cayman could weather the tough economic time, but it was important to develop strategies that were creative and keep monitoring the situation to ensure the Department of Tourism was doing everything it could to get a share of the existing market.
“One thing that came across loud and clear during the US meetings is that 2009 is ‘business not as usual’ and the events of the past few months have fundamentally changed our world. We are going to have to work harder than ever and be incredibly smart in our marketing decisions in order to maintain our position in these challenging times,” said Minister Clifford.
He explained that visitors from our primary market, the US, were still expected to take vacations but stay closer to home, which would be good for the Cayman Islands.
Acting Director of Tourism Shomari Scott explained that their would be a focus on family vacations, as marketing experts say that parents still want to try and spend on their children even if they spend less on themselves in a recession. As a destination that has always been family friendly, he said the department would be taking that further with a programme in which kids will get everything from flights to food free during their stay.
“This year the Cayman Summer Splash offer will match anything that any other destination can come up with, “ he said. “All kids coming to the Cayman Islands will get everything free – food, drinks, activities and even their flights."
He also said that the Black Pearl Skateboard Park was going to play a key role in the promotion of the islands this year. Cayman has the second largest skate park in the world and is attracting a lot of attention in the world of skateboarding, now one of the most popular past-times in the US, and Scott said the department intended to take advantage of that with Skate Cayman.
“We are speaking to a number of professional boarders who can come down to Cayman and offer camps to coincide with the summer programmes, “ he said, adding that young Caymanian skaters would get a chance to get involved too but it was a potentially exciting diversification of the tourism product. “Statistics show that 20 million young people skate and it has eclipsed baseball amongst young Americans.” He said that camps were already being booked for the summer, with a church group coming very soon for a skate camp at the park in the next few weeks.
A wedding conference, ‘Something Blue’, is also planned for June to help boost Cayman’s already successful romance product. Scott said bringing a number of key professional planners designers and coordinators here for a conference to show them what we have could see them in turn promoting the destination to their clients.
“We don’t think brides will cancel their weddings regardless of the economy,” said Scott, who acknowledged that this particular specialist market is already cluttered, with and more and more Caribbean destinations fighting for a share of the romance dollar, but he said the conference could go a long way to elevate Cayman as a honeymoon and wedding destination of choice.
Clifford also emphasised the need for partnership with the private sector and said the move towards turning the Department of Tourism into an Authority was back in consideration, and the ministry and the private sector industry body, the Cayman Islands Tourism Association, were working together to make it happen.
The Security Centre Youth Football League kicks off
(CNS): The Security Centre Youth Football League, which is run by the Cayman Islands Flag Football Association, starts next Saturday, 28 February, on the playing field at Cayman International School at Camana Bay. Registration is at 11:00 am, although parents are encouraged to register online beforehand at www.flagfootball.ky to secure their children’s places. Games will take place on Saturday afternoons and the league will run for nine weeks. It will focus on teaching flag football in a fun and relaxed environment and is open to boys and girls ages 8 through 14.
The League’s sponsor, The Security Centre Limited, will provide uniforms, refreshments and all the trappings of a fun event, as well as enable local children free admission to the league.
President and CEO Stuart Bostock said, “American Football has not traditionally been well represented on Cayman’s youth sports scene so this new youth league is a welcome addition to the range of sporting activities available to our local children. The new league will help to stimulate interest in Football among young people, which we hope will lead to many more participants in the sport locally and maybe even scholarship or professional opportunities for some. With children of my own, I believe strongly that young people should be able to take part in the sports they want to, so The Security Centre is very proud to put its name to this youth football league.”
Spearheading the inception of the league is local barrister, Kyle Broadhurst, whose goal was to give local children the opportunity to play and learn about a sport that so many of them are interested in. “We are looking to establish The Security Centre Youth Football League as a regular fixture in the Cayman Islands. The league gives children a great opportunity to engage in physical activity and learn a popular sport. We wholeheartedly encourage parents to bring their children along to take part.”
For more information, email ciflagfootball@gmail.com.
Disabled make claim to rights
(CNS): As the Legislative Assembly prepares to debate the bill required to facilitate the referendum on Monday, the community is still debating the details of the constitution as campaigners began to raise their voice over the reduction of rights because of the perceived homophobia in the church leadership. At one of the largest ever public meetings on the constitution, for the first time members of Cayman’s disabled community, other activists and non-church groups spoke out loud and clear about their concerns over limited rights as the government made efforts to justify the limitation.
A meeting hosted by stakeholders of the constitutional talks at the Family Life Centre last night (Thursday 19 February) saw a turn out of over 400 people. Once again the discussion was dominated entirely by rights. However, this time the community heard from a number of people with disabilities, including Keisha Martin who has been completely blind for 22 years, who spoke of the incredible discrimination she suffered when she brought a seeing-eye dog to Cayman but was eventually forced to return it.
Parents of disabled children spoke out about their concerns for the future because of the limitation placed on everyone’s rights as a result of the changes to Section 16. Others with disabilities articulated the woeful lack of legislation to protect them and their desire to see their rights constitutionalized because of the persistent failure of politicians to enact necessary disability laws. A number of people rasied their concerns that homophobia was the root of the problema nd that to sacrifice the rights of the disabled for that was disgraceful.
Sara Collins, Chair of the Human Rights Committee, confirmed that the fundamental reason why all the people of the Cayman Islands were now facing “half a loaf” regarding their rights was because of the church’s position on gays and lesbians and the desire to ensure that particular group of people could still be discriminated against. “How much are we willing to sacrifice just to prevent gays and lesbians getting access to rights?” she asked.
Collins explained to the meeting what had happened with Section 16. She said in theoriginal 24 October draft government could not discriminate against anyone at any time. However, she said that Minister Alden McLaughlin told the HRC that the churches could not accept such a wide-ranging right applying to gays and lesbians. Following this a proposal was put forward, which was first explained to the HRC on 8 January 2009. Collins said a note was circulated explaining the proposal which said:
“The effect of such a formulation would be that if, for example, “other” discrimination were held to include discrimination against homosexuals or transsexuals, such discrimination would only fall foul of this section [16] if it were in respect of the rights set out under Part 1 of the Constitution (the Bill of Rights).”
Collins said that in spite of the HRC objections the proposal was agreed at the end of the second round of talks by the other delegates. “It is important to understand this because we are not saying that any one group is left out of rights that other people are enjoying. The list of the groups did not change, except to include gays and lesbians. Children, women, the disabled and the elderly and everyone else will still be included in the right, but the extent of the right itself was changed so that the government could discriminate against all of those people in certain areas,” she said.
She explained that everyone, not just gays has had their rights cut and that government used examples of how the change would allow it to discriminate. In one case government cited an example of being able to discriminate against women working as police officers and prevent them from doing certain jobs in the service if section 16 was limited to the rights of the constitution only.
“That is why the HRC were duty bound to explain to the public what this means for them. The government will be able to discriminate against anyone in the areas of healthcare, housing, employment, provision of social services, access to public spaces and many others because these are no longer covered. The government’s own written proposal recognised that fact,” she said.
McLaughlin defended the decision and said that have a free standing non-discrimination right was not just about restricting the rights of gays and lesbians, although he did admit that was the churches’ main objection. He said that with a free standing right government could be forced to educate all children, not just Caymanians, that Caymanians jobs would be at risk and that the entire landscape of Cayman would change.
However, Collins said the minister was scaremongering and pointed out to the audience that the rights to discriminate regarding the national interests of Caymanians in terms of employment, etc, were very clearly protected in Section 16b and that McLaughlin was misleading the people when he said a free standing right would undermine Caymanian rights in favour of other nationals.
A considerable number of people in the audience voiced their concerns over the limitation of rights as well as the four-year delay before implementing the separation of child offenders from adult offenders in the country’s prison system. The removal from the constitution of the right to be told that a person has the right to remain silent when being arrested was also questioned.
During the meeting, Leader of Government Business Kurt Tibbetts insisted that, although the constitutional document was certainly not perfect, it was the best that could be achieved given the circumstances and was a vast improvement in every respect of what Cayman currently has. He said the negotiations were done andthe time had come for a decision. Given the consensus that had been arrived at in London, except for the HRC, he asked the stakeholders to offer their endorsement of the document and let the country decide.
The HRC said it would not campaign against the document but it was duty bound to point out its shortcomings as that was their remit, especially as their suggestion to add a choice question at the referendum had been soundly rejected. Both the church representatives and the Chamber, while noting some reservations, did offer their endorsement, but McKeeva Bush, the Leader of the Opposition, reserved his commitment to the document by saying that, while there were some good things in it, the decision lay with the people and it was not his place to tell them to vote for it or not.
Although originally planned for today Friday 20 February the debate on the Referendum (Constitutional Modernisation) Bill, 2009 will take place in the Legislative Assembly at 10 am. Monday, 23 February. The change was made government said in order to give members more time to examine the bill. The passage of the bill is necessary in order to hold the referendum on the new draft constitution in May. A copy of the bill is available to the public at the Legislative Department, in the Legislative Assembly building; and on www.cila.ky
Athletics at GT Saturday
(CNS): The Cayman Islands Athletic Association is hosting its George Town district meet on Saturday 21 February at the Truman Bodden Sports Complex starting at 9:00 am. This is one of a series of development meets taking place across the island, and the fourth CIAA meet for the year, with the last meet being held in Bodden Town approximately two weeks ago. The regular meets provides competition and opportunities for Athletes to qualify for regional and international meets.
The list of events is as follows:
Field events – Long jump: m/f open, 14–16, 17–19; high jump: m/f 12–13, 14–16, 17–19, open; Shot put: m/f 10–11, 12–13, 14–16, 17–19, open (20+); discus: m/f 14–16, 17–19, open; javelin m/f 14–16, 17–19, open; turbo javelin: m/f 10–11, 12–13 and ball throw: m/f 6–7, 8–9.
Running events – 80m: m/f 6–7; 100m: m/f 8–9; 10–11, 12–13, 14–16, 17–19, open; 200m: m/f 12–13, 14–16, 17–19, open; 400m: m/f 12–13, 14–16, 17–19, open; 800m: m/f 12–13, 14–16, 17–19, open; 1500m: m/f U17, 17–19, and open (20+).
The CIAA Track season usually starts in January with Athletes hoping to meet qualifying standards for regional and international meets. The CIAA says that district meets are mainly used for talent searching. There might be some unknown talent in the districts that is not affiliated to a club but might come out of curiosity and participate, and hopefully become interested and decide to get seriously involved.
Registration forms are available by contacting National Coach Kenrick Williams at 323–0163, Coach Tyrone Yen at 925–6917 or Coach Harcourt Wason at 916–6966.
Free Green Guide No2
(CNS): A local law firm and NGO dedicated to marine research and education have partnered to produce a booklet to highlight the impact of human activity and climate change on the reefs of the Cayman Islands. The first copies of the Green Guide to the Cayman Islands: Special Publication No. 2: Climate Change and The Sea Around Us, produced by Ogier and the Central Caribbean Marine Institute (CCMI), will be available on 1 March at a Family Fun Day taking place at Dart Park, South Sound between 2:00 pm and 5:00 pm, and will continue to be distributed islands-wide throughout March.
According to a release from CCMI, the Green Guide Special Publication No2 provides a brief summary of the alarming evidence that both human neglect and the changing climate is having a negative impact on reefs and oceans in the Cayman Islands. It follows a similar format to the first with informative easy to read content coupled with vibrant photography, and aims to provide a valuable resource for all businesses, residents and visitors of the issues facing Cayman’s fragile marine ecosystem.
“Our economy depends on tourism from the thousands of visitors who come to our islands to experience the crystal clear waters, perfect coral reefs and abundant sea life and we need action now to help preserve the bio diversity of our islands,” the release says.
“Ogier is pleased to provide continued support to the CCMI in its mission to protect and preserve Cayman’s marine environment," said Ogier Managing Partner, James Bergstrom, "We are fortunate to live and work in the Cayman Islands, where the accessibility of the ocean makes it a vital part of our daily life. This guide willhelp everyone understand and appreciate the threats we are facing and the ways in which we can all work towards protecting our islands for future generations,” he continued.
“Our continued partnership with Ogier has allowed us to launch a campaign in the Cayman Islands to preserve our planet. This issue of the Green Guide will share the message while offering resources to live in a more eco-friendly manner,” comments Jim O’Neill from the CCMI Executive Board
Ogier, one of the leading providers of offshore legal and fiduciary services recently initiated a number of charitable task forces run by its staff and assisted by the firm.. The environmental group (E-force) headed by Neil Kandelaars advocates change at the individual, firm and community levels by raising awareness of sustainability principles. E-force has taken the lead on finding ways to reduce the firm’s consumption of resources, and has already made significant impact on energy consumption and waste reduction.
The Central Caribbean Marine Institute was incorporated in 1998 as a non-profit 501c3 organization. CCMI was established as an international charitable organization after becoming incorporated in the Cayman Islands (2002) and in the UK in 2004.
Since its first years, CCMI has proven a valuable asset to the effort of understanding changing coral reef and tropical marine environments, and its research and education programs have established a solid foundation for future reef education and awareness in the Caribbean and for students and researchers from around the world.
To participate in any of CCMI’s Education programmes, please email coppage@reefresearch.org
Photo: (L-R) Ogier Partner Peter Cockhill; Ogier Counsel and President of the Ogier Environmental Committee, Neil Kandelaars; Ogier Business Development and Marketing Deputy Manager, Jayne Aiken; CCMI Sales and Event Coordinator, Kellie Shoemaker; CCMI Executive Board Member, Jim O’Neill.
CAL pilots grounded over air display
(CNS): Updated— Two Cayman Airways pilots and an air traffic controller have been suspended from duty while an investigation into an air display marking the retirement of an aircraft from the National Flag Carrier’s fleet is underway. The Civil Aviation Authority of the Cayman Islands (CAACI) confirmed yesterday that it is investigating a report regarding a low-flying Cayman Airways aircraft. “As the investigation is on-going, details of the report cannot be disclosed at this time,” the Authority said.
Neither the CAACI nor Cayman Airways have offered any details of when the incident took place. Not have they stated who if anyone was in danger or who the people involved are. However, CNS understands it is connected to the air display performed on 23 January of this year when CAL retired its B737 200 from the fleet. Although unconfirmed, it is said that during the traditional farewell the pilots flew very low over the runway at Owen Roberts International.
CNS understands there are no specific rules governing the height at which aircraft can or can’t fly in the vicinity of the aerodrome. But a low pass should only be initiated when an aircraft is in difficulty or if it has been agreed with Air Traffic Control. CNS learned this was agreed on this occasion. However, it has now been deemed following the circualtion of pictures taken at the event that the authorities became concerned that the low flyby may have been unsafe.
The future of tax havens
(CNBC European Business): The year 2008 will remain indelibly etched on the collective psyche of the offshore banking sector. Switzerland and Liechtenstein, the heights of European banking secrecy, were assailed by tax investigations of unprecedented severity while the near collapse of the global financial system injected renewed vigour into international efforts to pierce the offshore veil. Probes into Bernie Madoff’s $50bn fraud look set to pile further opprobrium on opaque investment structures. Go to article
Hunt for Lionfish in Bermuda
(The Royal Gazette): An army of 120-strong has lent its efforts to a campaign to rid Bermuda of an invading armada of predators. However experts say the number of volunteers needs to be greater if the Island is to stamp out the lionfish, now threatening the ecosystem of our reefs and fisheries. The invasive species has decimated fish populations in the Caribbean and will do the same here, unless kept at bay. Chris Flook launched the Lionfish Culling Programme last year to encourage divers and fishermen to hunt them down. Go to article
Woman blinded by acid wants same fate for attacker
(CNN): Ameneh Bahrami is certain that one day she’ll meet someone, fall in love and get married. But when her wedding day comes, her husband won’t see her eyes, and she won’t see her husband. Bahrami is blind, the victim of an acid attack by a spurned suitor. If she gets her way, her attacker will suffer the same fate. The 31-year-old Iranian is demanding the ancient punishment of "an eye for an eye," and, in accordance with Islamic law, she wants to blind Majid Movahedi, the man who blinded her. "I don’t want to blind him for revenge," Bahrami said. "I’m doing this to prevent it from happening to someone else." Go to article
Fund needs contractors and cash
(CNS): The National Recovery Fund has said it is working hard to process over 200 applications it has received from Cayman Brac residents in the aftermath of Hurricane Paloma. Although construction has started on around thirty homes with nine of those completed, Dr. Mark Laskin, Director of the Fund says there is a desperate need for contractors to come forward.
“Whilst our work in Brac is progressing well, we are hampered in our efforts by a lack of available contractors and we urge any qualified contractors to get in contact with our office,” he said. Another obstacle facing the Fund is raising enough money to complete all the recovery work required, estimated at $4 million.
Dr. Laskin said however that he is very grateful for and encouraged by the donations received from the private sector. Most recently, Paul Harris, chairman of International Management Services Ltd. (IMS), donated US $10,000 the fund and said he was pleased to be given the opportunity to make a contribution to assist Brackers in getting their lives back together.