With expanded airlift top of the tourism agenda, so, too, is the need to redevelop the Owen Roberts International Airport to keep pace with the additional demand and Tourism Minister Kenneth Bryan says work on a new redevelopment plan is continuing.
Bryan, speaking on Wednesday’s episode of the Compass weekly Facebook talkshow ‘The Resh Hour’, said the current redevelopment plan is obsolete and that, generally, every eight years it should be revisited.
With that process in train, Bryan said the questions for the community have to be: “Where do we want to be in 10 years? Where do we want to be in 20 years? And how does that look?”.
He said he appreciated that the airport had undergone recent upgrades, but with increasing passenger numbers, there is a need to revisit what exists and see what else might be needed.
Bryan said while work on the new redevelopment plan progresses, government is looking at upgrading the private aviation area of the airport, which he said, in his opinion, is “below standard”.
The service, he said, is quality, but the surrounding infrastructure needs upgrading.
Additionally, he said, if Cayman is looking to embrace emerging markets where there is “oil money” then the jurisdiction needs to get them here and that means looking at the existing airport and whether the runway can accommodate bigger planes that come from longer distances.
The plan, he said, will look at all of that. However, he said, first we need to decide what the vision is for Cayman and “design” the airport around that.
“With the projections of good growth in tourism, we need to improve the airport yet again. It sounds very, very early but that’s how fast we are growing in that respect and seize the opportunities there,” he said.
Projections of a rapid return of tourism in the aftermath of COVID-19, is fueling a new masterplan for the future of Cayman’s three airports.
A total of $74 million was spent on the initial upgrades to the Owen Roberts International Airport terminal in Grand Cayman, more than doubling the capacity of the terminal. A further $45 million has since been invested in upgrading the runway and airfield.
Brighter days ahead
Bryan said he is looking forward to very positive numbers for the high season ahead.
He dismissed any notion that there would be a need for a stipend for tourism workers at Christmas, since the trends are showing that Cayman could see numbers similar to those pre-pandemic.
He said, while health officials are warning that COVID cases look like they are trending upwards, with countries like the UK already seeing a spike in the number of cases, Bryan said the feeling in the industry is “what COVID?”.
Health is still a priority and while the reality of COVID still exists, tourists do not want to be “bombarded” with health protocols.
He said they just want to know that the right steps are being taken for their safety like vaccinations, boosters and sanitation.
“I would encourage the industry in tourism to continue to follow those protocols we have sent out and guidelines on cleanliness and checks on your workers. COVID is still around, it’s still dangerous,” he said, adding that Health Minister Sabrina Turner has been pushing the booster and vaccination programme ahead of the winter rush.
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