Tourism
Cayman makes ‘Brides’ honeymoon top 20
(CNS): The premier said that the Cayman Islands has proved itself to be a niche market contender after coming in the top 20 honeymoon destinations in the world for Brides Magazine. The survey ranks Cayman at number 15 . “Niche marketing has a special place particularly for Caribbean destinations which all have an abundance of sun, sand and sea,” McKeeva Bush said this week after his representatives collected the award at a Caribbean tourism event in New York last month.“This award boosts our market strengths and proves that we are truly a top contender.”
The Ritz-Carlton Grand Cayman was also listed as joint second best Caribbean resort for newlyweds in the survey which was conducted in partnership with travel agents Signature Travel Network.
Chief Officer in the premier’s ministry Carson Ebanks said that the department was thrilled that the Cayman Islands was selected. “Our enchanting islands have something to offer for all honeymooners – relaxation, adventure, nature, incredible epicurean experience and much more. For a week or a month, the Cayman Islands is a perfect place for honeymooners,” he added.
Cayman Brac dive vacation heals mind and body
(CNS): Once a year Leland Walker takes a vacation, not just from the routine of daily life but from the constant pain he has lived with for the past 14 years. The only time that he is pain free is when he scuba dives, and the only time he gets to do that is on the annual Dive Pirates Foundation trip to Cayman Brac. Walker is an ‘incomplete quadriplegic’, which, he explained, means he still has feelings in his toes and can feel the water, and he believes the relief from his chronic pain is due to a combination of the pressure underwater and a relaxed mind. Diving, he said, takes his mind off the pain. “I think about how beautiful this earth is, and that most people don’t get to witness it.”
The Dive Pirates Foundation is a non-profit organization that sponsors people with disabilities with scuba training, dive gear and a paid trip to the Brac Reef Beach Resort to complete their certification. On their first Brac vacation in 2004, the DPF brought a group that included four adaptive divers and their buddies. On this year’s trip, which wrapped up this weekend (Saturday 25 June), they brought a group of 83, which filled the hotel to capacity. Among them were the latest sponsorship recipients: two amputees, two paraplegics, one quadriplegic, as well as an adaptive diver with paralysis on his left side, one with a closed head injury, one with burns and fused ankles, and one with an injured back – results of combat injuries, car accidents or illness. Past sponsorship recipients, two amputees and four quadriplegics, who returned this year included Walker, from Albuquerque, New Mexico, who was on his fourth trip to the Brac.
“It’s the best week of my life every year,” he said. “The diving gets better and better on each trip.” Walker and his dive buddy, his sister Muzette Walker, made three dives a day for five days, and among this year’s highlights he saw a grouper feeding, a yellow sea horse, a large crab and a moray eel, and he swam next to a turtle. But it’s not just the diving that keeps him coming back to the Brac, he noted. “There are a lot of caring people here and everyone helps when they are asked. I don’t get this love at home!” (Right: Leeland Walker wins the Dive Pirates 'Floatila' contest during his week on the Brac)
Largely because of the relationship that has built up between the Dive Pirates and the Brac Reef, when the Tibbetts family, who own the hotel, rebuilt it after Hurricane Paloma demolished most of it in 2008, they included three wheelchair accessible rooms and concrete or wooden walkways throughout the resort. In addition, most of the dive staff with Reef Divers, which operates from the hotel, are SSI trained to assist adaptive divers, and according to Walker they seem to enjoy the group as much as the Pirates enjoy coming.
“Both airports (Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac) have employees that work very hard to accommodate our divers,” commented Sophie Wimberley, one of the founders of the Dive Pirates. “We have tremendous support from the ground crew, especially at Cayman Brac, who individually lift these men and women out of the planes and back in when we leave. This is hard work and they seem to enjoy helping and refuse extra tips or help from any of us. They are heroes!”
She also makes special mention of Philip Ebanks at Continental Airlines in Grand Cayman. “He personally came to work at 7am one year, without our asking, and checked us all in early so that we could visit Grand Cayman for the day without lugging our bags around. Now that we have a Saturday mid-day jet, this is no longer necessary, but he was great to do this for us. Last year Cayman Airways had changed their schedule for the jet service to a 9pm departure, but when we all arrived in Grand Cayman, they boarded us and we took off earlier.”
Before he took up scuba in 2007, Walker said, he felt as if he was just living day to day. He lost the use of his legs in a freak accident in 1997 and the shock and depression lasted for four years. He lifted weights to keep in shape but his disability plus the responsibility of being a single father with two daughters weighed him down. When his massage therapist suggested diving to him he took to the idea immediately, and his sister was excited about training with him as his buddy – but it wasn’t an easy process.
“I was scared out of my mind getting in the pool the first time and had a panic attack, but I never thought about giving up,” he said. To overcome his fears he practiced using the snorkel with his head in a bucket to try and control his breathing. On his first ocean dive he hyperventilated again, but this time not because he was scared but because he was excited. However, he regained control of his breathing and as he descended he relaxed. “Everything was so beautiful. There was stuff you only see on the Discovery Chanel,” he said.
Walker hopes to return next year and says he has no desire to dive anywhere else. “I recommend Cayman Brac to everyone, disabled or not,” he said.
For more information about the foundation or the trip to Cayman Brac go to divepirates.org.
Cruisers sink while air passengers stay up
(CNS): The latest statistics from the Department of Tourism have confirmed what business owners dependent on cruise passengers have been saying for several weeks that the numbers are way down. After a strong start to the year the drop in cruise passengers which began in April continued in May with an almost 20% dip compared to May 2010. Last year 114,504 cruise passengers docked in George Town during the month of May compared to 91,909 this. Meanwhile arrivals at the airport remained on the upward trajectory with a 7.4% in the people flying into the Cayman Islands.
While the outlook for the cruise tourism becomes increasingly gloomy with a first quarter decline of more than 13% so far 2011 continues to look better for stay-over guests with a more than 10% increase on the first quarter of 2010.
Once again air arrivals were boosted with a more than ten percent increase in passengers from Canada. In May 2010 1283 people flew to Cayman from Canada but last month 1417 passengers came from that country. Although passengers from the UK and the rest of Europe showed a decline of around 11% the increase of almost 9% from all across the USA meant 23,440 arrived at Owen Roberts International compared to 21,824 in May 2010 and 21,438 in 2009.
The steep decline in cruise passenger arrivalsfor the month however, does not bode well for the summer months for businesses in downtown George Town. The 91,909 cruise arrivals for last month is the worst statistic for more than a decade not since 2000 have less people sailed into the port during May.
Meanwhile, the tourism industry was celebrating its own last week with CITA’s annual Cayman Stingray Tourism Awards at the Grand Cayman Marriott. Government officials and those in the business were there to hand out gongs to employees in the industry who have gone above and beyond the call of duty as ambassadors for Cayman.
Tourism sector finds borrowing tough
(CNS): Only hotels in the Caribbean with well-known household names are likely to have received cash in recent times, according to a study carried out by KPMG. Globally branded projects, which are well capitalised and carry low levels of debt to equity are the best positioned to succeed when it comes to receiving financing while financial institutions continue to remain tight on lending, the report says. KPMG’s 2011 Caribbean Region Financing Survey focussing on lending in the hospitality and tourism sector in the Caribbean was based on findings carried out by KPMG professionals from across the region from February to April 2011.
It targeted senior corporate bankers and senior executives of niche financiers, representing a total of US$2.8 billion in exposure to the tourism sector. Countries represented were the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Barbados, Jamaica, Bermuda, Trinidad & Tobago, British Virgin Islands, Turks & Caicos Islands and the Cayman Islands.
As the downturn in the global economy continues to impact lenders, new and increased credit facilities are being made available to established hotel operations and operators with strong track records, according to the report.
“Borrowers are, in most cases, well capitalised borrowers and, ideally, part of a recognised chain of branded properties. A strong operator and hotel brand is seen as a prerequisite in order to survive and, in some instances, thrive within the increasingly price competitive market, where hotel properties are faced with operating cost pressures,” the report says.
In comparison, very little lender financing activity was to “greenfield” or boutique properties.
The report goes on to say that renegotiation and restructuring activities have increased where borrowers have got into difficulties and lenders have become more active in monitoring loan portfolios.
Lenders are also requiring borrowers to take additional risk in hotel projects by lowering loan to value ratios. The report says the impact has been that lenders are able to reduce exposure as thinly capitalised projects are not likely to be financed. At the same time a decrease in property values is likely to further impact existing loan exposures.
To move stalled projects forward, survey participants said there was a need for an assessment of the market, and an injection of additional equity to recapitalise the project.
“One of the themes in these responses was that where the project had stalled, there was erosion in the credibility of the sponsors, and their initial assessment of the project’s feasibility,” the report noted.
Lenders, it said, continue to exhibit a cautious approach to lending and see a gradual improvement in the Caribbean tourism sector. That said, this year they are increasingly worried about international world developments.
Global and regional macroeconomic indicators, including the price of oil, world food and commodity prices, and the socio-political developments in northern Africa and the Middle East were some of the issues currently worrying bankers and developers. Others issues of concern to the region’s tourism industry included the implementation of the UK travel tax and the increased awareness of regional crime in the international press.
Regional stopover visitor arrivals have fallen in each of the last three calendar years and are now lower than they were in 2006. With regard to stopover visitors, some of the winners were Cuba, Dominican Republic and Jamaica, with Puerto Rico and Bahamas being the biggest losers, the report stated.
Survey participants ranked global economic issues as being the most significant challenge and the strongest indicators of a turnaround in the tourism sector (73 per cent), while issues such as operating costs, social issues, the UK travel tax, and the quality of hotel product were each thought to pose a significant challenge to the sector, by approximately two percent of the survey participants.
Only 36 percent of the survey participants had positive views for the prospects of the Caribbean tourism industry over the next 12 months.
See full report here
CITA backs PPM on rollover
(CNS): The body representing local businesses in the tourism sector has warmly welcomed comments by the opposition leader to drop rollover and called on the premier to take up the suggestion. In the wake of the call by Alden McLaughlin in the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday, the Cayman Islands Tourism Association said abandoning the seven year term limit on work permits was one of the most pressing issues among its members and one that the organisation sees as a priority for turning round the fortunes of the industry. Speaking on Friday afternoon on behalf of the association, Trina Christian said the industry was about to lose a quarter of its workforce to rollover and asked government to act on the PPM leader’s call.
Often considered the party that was preventing reform for immigration, the PPM's call for the removal of the controversial policy will, CITA hopes, leave the door open for the government, which has said it backs immigration reform, to remove the term limits before critical people leave the islands.
Christian, the association’s Executive Director, explained that for tourism rollover has presented particular challenges as employers are rarely given key employee status for staff that they often perceive to be crucial to their operation because of issues of loyalty, customer service and recognition. She said the industry is people oriented and individual employee personalities are often an intrinsic part of the service for some local operators.
Despite the industry’s efforts to train and employ locals wherever possible, nine times out of ten, Christian pointed out, work-permit holders who were forced to leave were replaced by other ex-pats. She talked about the impact on individual small business and noted at least one restaurant that would be losing some 15% of its work force this month, which presents incredible challenges.
“Rollover is still seen as a really really critical issue when it come to strategies for tourism over the coming year,” Christian said. “We have polled members and immigration is still a major challenge for everyone.”
She added that CITA welcomed the opposition leader’s comments and called on government to seriously consider the proposal to drop the policy.
“We understand that it is a controversial issue but the policy is affecting the product and the service,” she said. “So at least let’s start the discussion about abandoning the rollover as this problem has to be addressed. Cayman is perceived as an expensive destination and that is fine if we exceed expectations with the service we provide but if we don’t that’s a problem and service is down to the right people.”
Christian emphasised the importance of loyalty, which is needlessly lost because of rollover as employers see their best people forced to leave when the employees don’t want to leave and employers really don’t want them to leave.
Given the nature of the industry, very few people return after twelve months as they find work elsewhere and settle down again. “More often than not, the island loses two good workers when someone is rolled over as they take their partners with them,” she said and noted that for tourism the recruitment and immigration challenges continue to be far more difficult than in any other sector.
During his response to the premier’s budget address on Wednesday McLaughlin, who said his party had supported the policy in the past, now believed that while rollover was achieving its objective it was doing so at too high a cost and a new solution needed to be found.
“The rollover policy has succeeded in its objective at considerable social and economic cost,” McLaughlin stated. He said that eight years after it was introduced there was still widespread dissatisfaction with its workings and its effect, both within the immigrant population, which is subject to it, and among Caymanian employers.
He said it was time for the Cayman Islands to abandon the rollover policy in favour of a more business friendly, socially acceptable and equitable policy.
“We understand that not everyone who comes here on a work permit will be able to remain here indefinitely and we are not suggesting that, but we believe there is a better way than that afforded by the present system,” the opposition leader said as he explained his party’s new position. “We propose that the present legislation which imposes a 7 year term limit on all work-permit holders except those who are key employees be repealed. We also propose that the concept of key employees be repealed.
“In the place of these provisions there should be a general provision which provides that all persons on work permit are entitled to apply for permanent residence after they have lived in the Cayman Islands for 8 years and that they must do so by year 10 if they wish to remain in the Cayman Islands beyond that point. “
He added that applications for permanent residence would continue to be considered and determined on the basis of a points system. “Not everyone who applies for permanent residence can expect to be granted it. But we should not set the bar for permanent residence so high that only professional and managerial persons can ever hope to achieve it. Nor should we set it so low that just about anyone will qualify.”
He said those who are granted permanent residence must have the capacity to be good, contributing members of the Cayman society and have the means to look after themselves.
“The premier says he constantly worries about the declining population. We call on him and his government to stop tinkering around the edges of the current immigration legislation and bring a bill to this House which will abandon the rollover policy, which he instituted 8 years ago,in favour of the more equitable, socially and economically acceptable alternative which I have just outlined on behalf of the opposition,” McLaughlin added, stating that he believed addressing immigration would help local businesses through the present dire economic times.
Mac signs MOU with Chinese
(CNS): The country’s premier has revealed that he has signed a ministerial Memorandum of Understanding with the Bejing based developer, China Harbour Engineering Company, to build the George Town Cruise port. Speaking in the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday afternoon, McKeeva Bush said the new government partners would also be renovating the Spotts jetty and developing a cruise ship pier at the Cayman Turtle Farm in West Bay. He further stated that as well as developing the George Town cruise facilities, CHEC will be involved in the future operation of that port.
Despite having rejected the last planned project by GLF because he said he did not believe the developer had the financing and would not be able to act quick enough, he revealed Wednesday that government did not expect to have a signed a contract with the new developers until November. Although he did not give a date for when the project might start, given the time frame for the contract preparations it is unlikely that the George Town project will now break ground before the beginning of 2012.
“Our joint objective, together with the Port Authority of the Cayman Islands, is to work towards signing a contract before the end of November this year,” Bush stated. “China Harbour Engineering Co. will provide the financing and technical designs for these projects. They will work closely with the government and the Port Authority on appropriate developmentplans for the reclaimed upland area in George Town.”
He said the construction projects will provide local employment and stimulate local business and that there would be chance local investors to buy into the George Town Port enhancement project. Bush said progress had already been made on the plans for the renovation of the Spotts area, which he said meant that the project could be underway as early as July. “A local firm, Office for Architecture and Design (OA&D), has already been retained as project managers for the Spotts Jetty rehabilitation and upgrading works,” he revealed.
After making the announcement to his parliamentary colleagues, he confirmed that after making a significant investment the developers would be involved in the management and operation of the facility. Bush said that after the completion of the projects the details of CHEC would be worked out. He also stated that the Central Tenders Committee would be examining the deal, but he did not go into details over how the firm was selected. Bush confirmed that CHEC is a state owned company and not a group of private Chinese entrepreneurs. It is also understood that the company didnot submit a bid during the original tendering process.
When the CTC originally announced the results of the review of the cruise port bids, DECCO had the most successful bid and was the first company to begin negotiations with government. Following the collapse of talks between DECCO (Dart’s construction firm) government moved to the second placed bidder, GLF/Royal construction, but talks with GLF were terminated by the premier in April, when the developer was potentially a mere six weeks away from mobilization. The premier did not say why the government had not gone to third place bidder or when it began talking with CHEC about the possibility of it being the developer of the cruise facilities.
The premier denied knowing anything about the issues CHEC were facing in Jamaica in connection with an investigation by the auditor general into a road project in that country.
Caribbean needs to compete more for investment
(CNS): The Caribbean was urged to compete for the global "wallet share" and step up the promotion of "its investment story," by vice president of investment at Goldman Sachs last week. Dave Dowrich the keynote speaker at the inaugural Invest Caribbean Power Forum in New York City on Thursday insisted that the Caribbean's investment "product" stacks up against most other regions of the world on several fronts, such as political stability, accessibility and ease of doing business. But "where we fall down is in selling and telling our investment story,” he said.
Comparing the Caribbean to private companies going public and the need to ensure that their story continues being told to their existing and future investor base, Dowrich said the Caribbean and its leaders must see investment in a similar vein.
"We therefore need to be sure that at every opportunity, our story is told on a consistent basis and told by credible and trust worthy folks such as our senior ministers, and then reinforced by our teams on the ground, who can 'talk the talk' of those that need to hear it," he added.
Dowrich was one of four speakers who addressed the along with Minister of Business Development & Tourism of Bermuda, Patrice Kimberly Minors; Martin Mohabeer, the Guyana-born Managing Director of Spackman Group and CEO of Spackman Capital and David Brillembourg, CEO of the Brilla Group.
Minors said Bermuda remains open to doing business while Brillembourg advised that attention be turned to Latin American pension funds as potential investors in the Caribbean region. Mohabeer announced the SEAF Caribbean Growth Fund, insisting that the Caribbean small business market is "tremendously underserved."
Among the over 120 attendees at the event were several money managers from the New York's investment community as well as top tourism officials from the Caribbean including the Chairman of the Caribbean Tourism Organization and Minister of Tourism and International Travel for St. Kitts/Nevis, Ricky Skerritt; Richard Sealy, Minister of Tourism, Barbados, Ed Bartlett, Minister of Tourism, Jamaica; Peter David, Minister of Tourism, Grenada; Commissioner of Tourism of St. Eustacius, Clyde Van Putten; Secretary General of the Caribbean Tourism Organization, Hugh Riley; Sylma Brown Bramble, director of CTO North America; Alec Sanguinetti, Director General of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association, Josef Forstmayr, President, Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association, and other top CTO officials as well as Caribbean directors of tourism.
The Cayman Islands was represented by the chief officer it he ministry of finance and tourism, Carson Ebanks.
Royal makes new port offer
(CNS): Royal Construction Ltd, the local partners of GLF Construction, has made a new offer to Cabinet and the Port Authority that includes a pier at Spotts and one at the Cayman Turtle Farm as well as the original cruise berth in George Town. The offer, which matches the alleged proposals made by a Chinese company, was made last week. However, a spokesperson for the firm told CNS that although Royal had presented its new proposals to all of the people in Cabinet and those connected to the project and was still in a position to get down to work as soon as possible on the cruise berthing facilities in George Town, the firm has not yet received any response from anyone in government.
“The GLF Construction Corporation has recently advised the government and the Port Authority of the Cayman Islands of its willingness to expand its proposal for the George Town Port to include the refurbishment of Spotts and the construction of a facility to support and complement the Turtle Farm in West Bay,” Howard Finlason said in an official statement.
He also pointed out that the upland development under the GLF proposals for the George Town Port would “leave the facility entirely under the control of the Port Authority to ensure it benefits the interests of the people of the Cayman Islands.”
Finlason added that Royal and its international partner, GLF, was ready, able and willing to proceed with these projects with the utmost urgency.
However, speaking on Radio Cayman news on Friday evening on his return from a meeting with the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association in Miami, the premier reiterated his intention to work with the Chinese investors. He said that he intended to issue a statement regarding the new plans and potential new partnership on the projects before the end of this week.
GLF had been in exclusive negotiations with the Cayman Islands government and the Port Authority until April when the premier wrote to the firm’s CEO cancelling the talks on the last day of the initial four month contract. (See CNS story GLF port deal was 6 months).
Despite claims to the contrary from the local partner and GLF that it had the financing in place and was ready to mobilize in six weeks, the premier cancelled the deal as he said GLF had not proved that it had the financing in place to undertake the job.
Since the talks were derailed, the premier has not given a full statement on his revised plans but said that new investors had offered to include two other projects as well as the George Town Port. The new partner is believed to be China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd, based in Beijing, but there has been no indication yet if the premier has already signed or intends to sign a framework agreement or MOU with the firm .
Meanwhile, local businesses dependant on cruise tourism are becoming increasingly concerned over the decline in business in George Town and the pressing need to move ahead as soon as possible with the project. Tourism representatives are becoming increasingly frustrated that despite protracted talks and government's assurance that it is committed to developing the facilities, talks have now collapsed with two sets of potential developers since the UDP took office in May 2009. The UDP also walked away from a possible partnership with Atlantic Star, with which talks had been started under the previous administration.
Air arrivals soar but cruisers start to dip
(CNS): Despite high tourist arrival figures over the last six months at both the port and the airport, April saw a decline in cruise passengers while stay-over visitors continued to show a marked improvement. According to this month’s Department of Tourism statistics air passenger arrival numbers were the highest for April since 2004 with 30,824 people visiting the island. This was an impressive 12.7 percent increase on air arrivals in April 2010 which was again fuelled by a significant increase in passengers from Canada. However, arrivals from across the United States and Europe were also up, even visitors from UK and Ireland showed a 29.2% increase on 2010.
Meanwhile, however, in keeping with recent complaints by tour operators, taxi drivers and business owners in down town George Town, cruise arrivals fell last month. Following a number of warnings that the cruise figures would begin to decline as the new class of mega cruise ships now plying the Caribbean are dropping Cayman from the schedules cruise arrivals fell by 8.7%. Less than 147, 000 people were on board the ships which docked in Cayman throughout April compared to almost 161,000 last year.
However as January, February and March saw higher cruise arrivals this year when compared to 2010 the year to date figure at the George Town port is still better than last up 3.9%.
However, arrivals at the airport are up over 8% so far this year with the arrivals from Canada up by 41% as a result of the new direct flight service by WestJet between Grand Cayman and Toronto. Canada now accounts for more than 10% of the passengers flying into the Cayman Islands. While the new airline has helped boost the figures from Canada flight arrivals from the US are still up more than 6% and from Europe by more than 11%.
April also saw occupancy rates in apartments improve and although hotel occupancy remained lower in April than last year apartments and condos had an increase of over 8% in their occupancy rates.
There are currently 4564 beds across 274 different properties. The average length of stay has also increase slightly among visitors this year, especially among those staying in apartments and condos. The Department of Tourism statistics reveal that the average length of stay has increased this year by a one full day with guests staying for average of 7.8 days.
Cruise port still in question
(CNS): Government officials are still tight lipped about the current situation surrounding plans for cruise berthing facilities in George Town, although it is understood that the premier will be heading to Miami later this week to meet with the Florida Cruise Association. Since McKeeva Bush wrote to GLF Construction in April cancelling its exclusivity deal with the Port Authority and the Cayman government, he has yet to reveal his new intentions for that development. The opposition leader noted the irony this week when he pointed out government’s focus in the Throne Speech on the proposed East End cargo dock, which no one wants, contrasted with a complete absence of comment regarding the cruise town dock, which everyone does.
Although, as was revealed by CNS that the government has been in discussion with the Chinese firm, China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd, headquartered in Bejing, it has still not signed any deal with the potential new partner.
The premier said in a televised address on 9 May that he would be revealing his new plans not just for the George Town cruise port but another two projects, believed to be a new pier at the Turtle Farm and the redevelopment of Owen Roberts airport, the following night at a UDP public meeting. However, the premier again remained quiet, stating that he would reveal the details before the end of the month.
However, as May drew to a close no statements were released from the premier’s office and officials on the Port Authority Board are now directing all enquiries regarding the cruise port to the premier.
With the budget expected to be delivered sometime next week, the premier may be planning on delivering details of the latest development projects during the next Legislative Assembly meeting, but no date has been set for when the local politicians will be coming to parliament again.
Speaking at a public meeting in East End on Monday evening, where residents of the district were discussing their fears about, and objections to, the proposed East End Sea Port project, opposition leader Alden McLaughlin said government was wasting time focusing on the wrong development.
“One of the great ironies about this is that we really do need a port; we’ve been needing it for a long time,” he said, as he pointed to the George Town cruise port and the failure of government to get berthing facilities that can accommodate the new class of cruise ships. “Instead of the government focusing on getting the necessary port working up and running in George Town, it continues to waste time and resources on a project that is completely unnecessary.”
Compared to many of the other projects that government has proposed, or chewed over, since it came to office more than two years ago, the cruise berth development in George Town is the one that has the least opposition and the widest cross section of support. There is no political opposition and although there are still environmental concerns, even those who have opposed the idea because of the potential risks to Seven Mile Beach have been less vocal than with many of the other project proposals.
Although the UDP has said it is fully committed to developing cruise berthing facilities, the project seems to be floundering as a result of the negotiating difficulties coming out of the public-private sector approach. Government had first turned to the Dart Group as its potential partner but those negotiations reportedly collapsed as a result of wrangling over the length of time the government was prepared to lease the facility to the developer in order for Dart to recoup its investment. However, this has never been officially confirmed and there have been indications that Dart had other concerns.
Although GLF said recently that it was fully prepared to start work by this summer and had the financing in place ready to be released once government signed a master agreement, the premier made a decision to pull the plug, it appears, as a result of wanting to explore other options with other developers.
Since government parted ways with GLF, it is understood that China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd had drawn up a potential MOU to set out the parameters for talks but the premier has reportedly not yet agreed to sign that proposed deal.