Tourism leaders are predicting a packed high season that could “jump start” the Cayman Islands economy following the decision to drop the remaining COVID-19 regulations.
Airlines and hoteliers have reportedly seen a surge in bookings since the announcement Friday.
And Cayman Islands Tourism Association executive director Jay Ehrhart believes the signs are good for a busy season.
“We are pretty excited. It’s a new era. We have been waiting two-and-a-half years for this,” he told host Doug Dodds on Gold FM’s morning show Monday.
Government announced Friday that pre-authorisation through Travel Cayman was no longer required for visitors to Cayman. Unvaccinated tourists can also now travel to the islands and all restrictions on the size of public gatherings have been dropped.
That means that, for the first time since March 2020, the destination is fully open.
While there remains debate about how the benefits of the tourism dollar are shared, Ehrhart believes busy hotels are good for everyone.
“It is trickle-down economics,” he said, “once the hotels are full and the Airbnbs are full, grocery stores are gonna get more money, more tips are gonna be spread around. The economy is gonna get a real jumpstart.”
He said the timing of the announcement gave businesses room to get visitors booked in and start staffing up for high season, which typically starts mid-October.
“Obviously, the hotels realise they’re going to be needing more staff. We’ve been on skeleton crews for a while,” he said.
“I think we’re gonna see an uptick in hiring for sure. So if you’re interested and want to work in the hospitality industry, now’s the time. I think we’re gonna have a big season.”
And he added that the lifting of public gathering restrictions was good news for group bookings and for events like Pirates Week and the Taste of Cayman food festival, which will be back at full strength, for the first time since the pandemic hit.
He also welcomed the news that Cayman’s airlift would be back to pre-COVID levels and that the new Los Angeles flight was selling well.
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