CITA elects new chief and lobbies for conservation
(CNS): Following the organisation’s recent Annual General Meeting, the owner of Treasure Island Resort, Harry Lalli (left), has been appointed the new CITA president. Approximately seventy CITA members attended the event at the Ritz Carlton when Lalli was elected and Dan Szydlowski, general Mmanager of The Westin, was elected Vice President. During the meeting the membership discussed the association’s main goals for 2010, which included lobbying government to increase air arrivals and pass the National Conservation Law.
“We are grateful to the commitment the new Board takes on to steer the Cayman Islands Tourism Association in its annual goals and vision,” said CITA’s Immediate Past President Stephen Broadbelt, who reviewed and presented the launch of the Cayman Tourism 2020 Initiative. The message focused on priorities CITA has in order to drive the industry forward.
Broadbelt reminded the membership that if they, as a destination, kept doing the same things they would get the same results, and it was therefore critical to make proactive plans that would bring them closer to the goal of 400,000 air arrivals and 1.75 million cruise arrivals. “Right now businesses are struggling and they are lucky to break even, which is not sustainable,” he stated.
On behalf of its members, CITA continues to lobby the Cayman Islands Government about these tourism initiatives to benefit businesses and the economy as a whole. Priority items are: increasing air arrivals, implementation of the National Conservation Law, input on CI Department of Tourism marketing efforts, cruise port development, and pro-business measures, including ease of doing business, reducing cost of doing business and ease of immigration.
Executive Director Trina Christian presented a review of the accomplishments and highlights over the year. These included initiatives to increase member benefits through projects and events; Quarterly Luncheons, General Meetings, Cayman Islands Tourism Exchange (CITE), inclusion in new CITA Official CI Map, Dive 365, Kittiwake, and inclusion in three international promotions through Department of Tourism.
New CITA 2010 & 2011 Board of Directors – Steve Broadbelt CITA Past President – Ocean Frontiers; Harry Lalli Condo/Villas – CITA President -Treasure Island Resort; Dan Szydlowski- Hotels – CITA Vice President – Westin; Franz Ferschke- Hotels – The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman; Tom McCallum – Condo/Villas – TheReef; Steven Hayes- Restaurants – TTRG (Cimboco, Chicken!Chicken! Breezes);Rod McDowall – Watersports – Red Sail; Steve Surrey- Watersports – Divers Down; Hugh Treadwell- Allied – Dart Active Capital; Bud Johnson – Allied – Atlantis Submarines; Ronnie Anglin- Transportation – Captain Marvins;Emma Graham Taylor – Cruise – Image Group; Moses Kirkconnell – Sister Islands.
Category: Local News
Stop ALL visitors and permit holders taking Conch and Lobsters!!! Full Stop!!!! Let them buy them from local markets.
It is NOT anyones RIGHT to take Conch or Lobster!!! but a privilage that is dying out fast.
Give Conservation Officers the powers to do their job!!!!
Discriminating between residents on the basis of nationality in respect of fishing rights is illegal under the European Convention of Human Rights. No resident on a permit could be charged with taking conch because of the illegal law.
So if we don’t put a ban in place to prevent ‘over fishing’ is a great idea, and we need to do more enforcing of this law.
IF you feel our laws are illegal, then go live where they have no problem with anyone raping the sea around them of what little marine life is left.
Get real, and stop with the prejudicial hate spewing.
On several dives recently I have found lures stuck into the reef and instead of fishing line they were attached to a solid wire. Now what on the reef requires a solid wire to catch??? It sort of takes the sport out of it, don’t you think?
I would like to see the wire line used for fishing made illegal within a mile of shore in the new conservation law.
Since I am enjoying this dream, how about protecting sharks which are an important part of the marine eco system?
Dreaming is fun…
Now what on the reef requires a solid wire to catch???
The answer is scuba divers.
I have been trying for years too hook one…. one of these days!
Some ideas from the past:
Zero tolerence on all crime
Have Caymanians do more than make the beds
Have local influenced food in restaurants
Landscape Town – and if it is by a road and looks scruffy – plant bougainvilla etc…
No-more dancehall with abusive lyrics at the sand bar
Can people with tourism/customer service skills please deal with security issues (espescially at airport)?
Separate customs lines for true tourist visitors staying in hotels
Stick auniform on the Governor with a great big feather on his hat – Bermuda makes theirs do it – then we could have some benefit.
Have police in ceremonial uniform provide security AND good old fashioned Q&A for tourists in down-town area.
No more jet ski’s close to shore – and none on SMB.
Any offence against a tourist – 10 year minimum.
Wireless internet – everywhere.
Control development – if it is not sympathetic to social, cultural, and natural environment, do not allow it.
Ban Carnival cruise lines but encourage the others.
4 ships per day maximum.
No cattle boats.
Keep it higher end and exclusive.
Provide value for money but do not make it cheap.
Get rid of unauthorised signage/clutter etc.
Make the prisoners keep it clean (at 4.00 am)
Allow Caymanians to benefit from the economy so they can start smiling again – give them back a role in their country so they can have ownership and a sense of pride.
First class reliable public transport.
Remove all the silly swim area ropes and buoys all over the place. They destroy the appearance of the natural environment. If people use boats inappropriately – prosecute them.
Peace, Tranquility, Harmony, Safety.
Good luck you will need it!
Inflated uncompetitive air fares caused directly by Cayman Airways pricing policies, increased costs imposed on local businesses, restrictions on employment and the forced loss of experience staff, very little local attractions, third-tier beaches and scenery, soon to be zero 18-hole golf courses, what else do you need . . .
"Come to Cayman we really want you to come for a second rate holiday so we can fleece you"
I’ve got an amazing idea.
How about really protecting the reefs?
A great deal of CI’s tourist income involves some amount of water activity.
I’ve been coming to the Caymans for more than ten years, and in that short time, the reefs have gone from astonishingly beautiful to depressing, and my friends and I will almost certainly choose other destinations if things don’t improve.
While it’s easy to point a finger and say “global warming”, the truth is that just like small annoyances add up into full-blown panic in SCUBA diving, small environmental insults add up to a dead reef that nobody wants to look at anymore.
CI needs to do *everything* possible to protect the reef, from eliminating runoff and sewage from the island, to preventing damage from the divers themselves (requiring competent DMs keep the divers from touching or kicking anything), as well as any sort of fishing anywhere near the island.
While fishing is illegal in some areas, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. And I’m not talking about a guy with a fishing pole, I’m talking about large nets and worse.
If CI doesn’t get serious about protecting what people come to see, it will soon be nothing more than Atlantic City, only with more sunshine.
Why shouldn’t I fish near the Island? Am I killing the reef by fishing near the island? Or are the divers crawling all over the reefs doing it? You yourself have acknowledged that this is a problem.
Here is a suggestion for the new board to help the tourism product and the country/Govt.
Organise & pay for the installation of proper pedestrian cross walks in George Town. I mean converting all of the existing to cross-walks, except those integrated with junction lights, to be similar to the one by the Glass House. Complete with a slightly raised walkway and lights so that pedestrians cross in groups, not a trickle, thus allowing traffic to flow. Each end of the cross-walk MUST have the international ‘PED-XING’ signs to clearly show their location from a distance. This is to avoid the cross-anywhere attitude which happens now, since the existing cross-walks do not have signage for the actual pedestrians.
Also insist that the cruise ship maps have all of the crossings clearly shown and that the on-board port-talks point out to the guests that they should use the crossings for their safety. Taking this point a bit further, maybe thick thatch rope could be used along the main streets near the cruise landing to stop people stepping into the traffic and thereby directing them to a proper crossing. I’ve seen this done in some ports that I have visited and it was very effective.
CITA should lobby our gov’t to speak out internationally against crazy knee-jerk international policy like this:
India’s income tax department is keeping a tight vigil on Indians, notably the ones suspected of owning bank accounts, visiting tax paradises such as Switzerland, Cayman Islands, Mauritius and the Bahamas, as it amplifies efforts to trace tax evasion and slush funds tucked away abroad.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/personal-finance/tax-savers/tax-news/Trip-to-tax-havens-in-govt-crosshairs/articleshow/5866081.cms