Minister for Tourism Charles Clifford said that while some cruise passenger arrival numbers this year have been slightly down on last year he expects them to pick back up again for winter.
The Minister was speaking at this year’s annual Tourism Conference on Thursday at the Grand Cayman Marriott Beach Resort in answer to a question about cruise ship arrivals being down because of redeployment of ships to other places.
The Minister agreed that there had been a decline in cruise arrivals, particularly during the summer. He said that while figures may be a little down on last year, it is expected that the winter months will compensate for that.
The months of April, June and July are down on the corresponding months of the previous year from between between 12,000 to 16,000 passengers.
For the year to date, through July, this year’s figure is still marginally ahead of last year’s: nearly 1.19 compared to 1.18 million.
Meanwhile, commenting on the fact that air arrivals through July 2007 have seen an 8.7 per cent growth on last year, he said, ‘This is a significant achievement, particularly when you consider the struggles many of our Caribbean neighbours are having with air arrivals and also when you consider economic issues, which many Americans are facing today with what some are now referring to as the housing crisis in the US.’
Indeed, he said, while the US will still be the primary market for Cayman’s tourism industry, the focus will be increased on the European and Canadian markets.
Director of Tourism Pilar Bush pointed out that the goal for air arrivals for this year is 300,000 and for 2008 it is 317,000. So far, through July, the figure is just under 190,000 with five months to go.
With regard to cruise tourism, some media coverage earlier this year pointed to a weak demand environment for the Caribbean market – a problem affecting the entire cruise industry.
But Minister Clifford said he remains confident that the Caribbean will remain an important destination for the cruise lines.
He pointed out that cruise tourism really developed around the Caribbean region.
‘And we know that cruise lines have redeployed ships to other parts of the world such as the Mediterranean and Alaska and they have developed, essentially, new destinations. I believe, though, that in discussions with them that the Caribbean will continue to be a premiere location for cruise lines to operate.’
Despite the weakening in cruise arrivals in the summer it is an important place on guests’ itineraries.
‘They (the cruise lines) have said this to us up to recently that Cayman is always the destination that features prominently in their guests’ minds on the Western Caribbean itinerary. They want to come to Grand Cayman.’
Having said that, Mr. Clifford said he knows there are product issues at the port and in central George Town to be addressed, and a group of merchants from downtown (the Advance Cruise Tourism Group) would be working with the government and on some of their own initiatives to improve the product downtown.
But, he said, the fact that the cruise berthing facilities are being developed in conjunction with major cruise lines demonstrates the cruise lines are committed to the destination for the long term.
Referring to the ongoing negotiations with the cruise lines on berthing facilities, he said, ‘And I can tell you we’re not going to give away the country. This is the reason why it is taking longer than I expected because we are going to make sure that Grand Cayman and the Cayman Islands are protected when we enter into that agreement.’
He said it will probably be a 15- to 20-year commitment for both sides.
He also noted that Royal Caribbean is developing much larger ships: Genesis class ships are coming on stream shortly. These are ships that will be carrying 5,000 plus passengers and about 1,200 crew.
‘These are all issues that as a destination we need to be very careful about when we develop berthing facilities,’ he said.
Minister Clifford said he fully expects over the short term that they will begin to adjust their itineraries to spread their calls out throughout the week. ‘So the fact that we have berthing for four will provide an incentive for them to better schedule their ships so that we eventually end up with four, hopefully no more than five, but ideally four ships, six days a week, which makes a big difference compared to what was occurring.’
Meanwhile, any cruise berthing facility to be built in Grand Cayman would be done with a view to withstanding serious storms, there are no guarantees in a Category 5 hurricane.
Mr. Clifford said this in response to questions from the Caymanian Compass in the wake of Category 5 Hurricane Dean’s recent ravaging of Puerto Costa Maya in Mexico.
Mr. Clifford said there are no assurances with such piers in the case of a category five hurricane as the force of the storm has no ceiling, rather only a minimum of 155 miles per hour winds. ‘It is therefore impossible to build one that is completely hurricane proof,’ he said.
There were estimations of a six to eight month closure of the Costa Maya cruise port because of damage suffered from Dean, including three ship berths.
He said the Cayman Islands uses its piers for the management of cargo. ‘While we too are susceptible to the forces of Mother Nature we consider ourselves fortunate not to have sustained any major or significant damage to our George Town harbour pier during Hurricane Ivan or any other recent weather system.’
He added, ‘Government can only continue to utilize the best local and international expertise to help us protect our assets offshore and onshore.’
Mr. Clifford has said he believes berthing for four cruise ships in George Town will raise the standard of the cruise product, enhance the experience of cruise guests, increase economic returns by allowing those guests to stay longer on island.
In July 2006 he first announced that the process of establishing berthing facilities in Grand Cayman had begun.
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