Cayman Islands Tourism Association President Marc Langevin expressed frustration over government’s decision to cancel large events without consulting industry stakeholders.
Langevin, in a brief comment to the Cayman Compass on Sunday on the decision, said that while it is a “step backward in our reopening process”, the Association certainly understands why public health authorities pulled the plug on a large Rub a Dub party Saturday night.
“There are so many unknowns and uncertainty about the new variant,” he said.
He said this latest change will not have a major new negative impact on the local holiday season “as most larger parties had already been cancelled”.
“Most event organizers had concerns of being responsible for having their attendees forced into quarantine during the festive holiday in case of a positive test, symptomatic or not,” he said.
On Saturday night, an emergency order was issued to shut down the Rub a Dub party as concerns grew about the rapid spread of the new Omicron variant of COVID-19.
Through a statement issued by Premier Wayne Panton, government also recommended all big events be cancelled and urged people to avoid large gatherings.
However, apart from the timing of the announcement, Langevin said the Association noted the lack of consultation from government.
“Our concern and frustration is that this decision was made once more without consulting the tourism industry and trying to understand potential consequences to the various businesses, and finding potential alternative solutions,” he said.
For example, Langevin said one of the potential negative impacts of the latest regulation “is that it does not seem to have a tentative end date which could cause severe concerns for our groups and event planners and results in more cancellations for 2022”.
He argued this could have been easily prevented, “had we been consulted to address this issue”.
Late Saturday night, government said there were 23 suspected cases of the Omicron variant in addition to four confirmed ones, which was “suggestive” of community transmission of the contagious COVID-19 variant.
“In light of this rapidly evolving situation, I want to appeal to members of the community to carefully consider your attendance at any large gathering and to adhere to all safety protocols. The Omicron variant is extremely contagious and we must do all we can to slow the spread,” Premier Panton said through the statement.
Medical Officer of Health Dr. Samuel Williams-Rodriguez urged Caymanians, residents and visitors to strictly practise COVID-19 prevention measures, including hand washing, mask wearing and social distancing throughout the holiday season.
“These simple guidelines, combined with the full vaccination course and booster, offer the best chance of protecting ourselves and those we love,” Williams-Rodriguez said.
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