WestJet debut flight

The new, thrice-weekly direct
seasonal service between Grand Cayman and Toronto, Canada, touched down for the
first time on Thursday, 4 November.

“As minister for tourism, I am
truly excited because this is a signal that things are happening for our tourism
industry… and more good things are on the way. This flight marks an important
beginning for our tourism plans in the Canadian market,” said Premier McKeeva
Bush at an airport ceremony to mark the occasion.

Paul Minich, country manager of
Canada for the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism, said the WestJet flights
will be a major game changer for the destination.

“The alliance represents the next
step in a three-year strategic marketing plan that will see us expanding our
outreach in the Canadian market.

“A full 25 per cent of our visitors
come from Western Canada, and this represents an opportunity to grow that
number even further… with more airlift to the destination we’ve increased our
PR, marketing and advertising presence across Canada, particularly in the west
where we anticipate growth,” he said.

He added that research from the
Conference Board of Canada suggests Cayman will experience double-digit growth
in visitors from Canada in coming years.

Dale Tinevez, vice president of
guest services at WestJet, said the debut flight had a 100 per cent load
factor, which boded well for the service.

“Looking at our future loads,
things are looking very, very good… we look forward to helping boost the
local tourism here. Canadians are going to love Seven Mile Beach, the diving,
shopping in George Town and visiting all three islands. I am very confident the
travelling public will embrace this [service].

“We look forward to filling our
northbound flights full of guests from the Cayman Islands visiting Toronto for
business and pleasure… it’s a gateway to 31 cities in Canada,” he said,
adding that flights operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.

Shomari Scott, acting director of
tourism, concluded that while the United States remains an incredibly important
market for Cayman, Canada’s economy has been a bastion of strength throughout
the turmoil of the last year.

“Despite being tied heavily to the
US market, the Canadian economy has weathered the storm extremely well. The
nation has a healthy consumer confidence index and a high intention to travel
to a sun destination this winter.

“Furthermore, the meetings and
incentive market is emerging again after a dormant period during the recession.
Canadian companies are back to offering their employees reward travel, and both
WestJet and Air Canada are working to bring this market back to its former
performance levels,” he said.

The ceremony to mark the inaugural
flight was held at the waving gallery at Owen Roberts International Airport.

It was attended by a number of
government, WestJet and aviation representatives plus travel and tourism
journalists from Canada who subsequently spent several days here on a
specially-designed programme that included visiting local attractions like
Stingray City as well as sampling the fare in various restaurants.