Tourism and Ports Minster Kenneth Bryan has called for a referendum to be held on building a cruise pier at the next election.
Speaking in his budget address in Parliament on Monday, Bryan said it was time to address the ‘elephant in the room’ – that a decrease in cruise ship arrivals in coming years is inevitable if a pier is not built, as major cruise lines are refusing to use tender boats to transport their passengers from ship to shore.
A petition in 2019 triggered a people-initiated referendum, but with the onset of the COVID pandemic, the Progressives-led government at the time indicated it did not intend to move ahead with its plans to build a cruise pier in George Town Harbour, therefore negating the need for a referendum.
Bryan told his fellow legislators that, at the time the referendum was dropped, “people felt absolutely assured that the Cayman Islands was the jewel of the Caribbean cruise sector and ships had no choice but to stop here. In the years since the question of piers was last discussed, we have seen the cruise lines don’t have to stop here.”
Noting that even larger ships have now been built than the Oasis classes that the cruise lines had said they would not tender, he said it was extremely unlikely the cruise companies would ever agree to tender those bigger ships.
The number of cruise ships stopping in Cayman has decreased considerably since 2019, the last full pre-COVID year, which saw record tourism arrivals.
In the first 10 months of this year, 993,919 cruise passengers visited Cayman, which equates to 68.8% of the full-year 2019 arrivals, Bryan said. He also delivered the latest cruise arrival numbers for November, which was approximated 127,000 passengers, and the projected number for the traditionally extremely busy month of December, which was 179,664.
This would mean the projected total number of cruise arrivals for 2023 would be 1.3 million. In 2019, more than 1.8 million cruise ship passengers visited Cayman.
“At some point,” Bryan said, “we have to address the fact that if we continue in the cruise business, we either have to be willing to accept the continual decline in passenger numbers over time or reconsider our options in respect to having a cruise pier.”
Addressing the speaker of the House, Sir Alden McLaughlin, Bryan said, “You among all people will be well aware of the level of public sensitivity concerning this subject matter.”
McLaughlin’s Progressives-led government had championed the idea of a cruise pier in George Town to bolster Cayman’s cruise arrival numbers, but the plan met with widespread public opposition, prompting the referendum petition and legal action.
Bryan noted that itineraries of some cruise lines were no longer including George Town, “which is what we have been told to expect” by the cruise companies.
“So now that we see our cruise sector dwindling,” Bryan said, “I think it would be wise for us to hold a referendum in the next election, so that the people can settle the question once and for all, of whether the Cayman Islands should have piers.”
He added that a cruise pier did not necessarily have to be based in George Town, “where it may be a risk to Seven Mile Beach”.
“Maybe it can be considered somewhere else,” he said.
“Either way, the representatives of the people need clear direction because having piers or not having piers – both options have their pros and cons that people need to decide, but we as a country have to recognise that if we don’t have piers, our cruise tourism product will continue to decline, that’s a simple fact.”
Bryan told the House that a recent tourism business survey conducted by the Department of Tourism had shown that 68% of respondents confirmed that 50% of their income came from the cruise business.
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Fortunately the Cayman public are intelligent enough to vote again, against mass cruise ship tourism, which will destroy our upmarket reputation..
I hope you’re right!!!!
When the cruise traffic was high the environment suffered. Limit the number of cruise ships and make it a more sought after destination. Which would mean the people coming would be willing to pay higher fees to see this beautiful island. The larger ships have more people than the island can accommodate at one time, especially when there will be more than one in port at a time.
No Piers – Different cruise tourism model (not super-mega-ships). There, referendum result sorted.
Agree! Need to cultivate the luxury stay over tourism market.
Cayman has lost a lot of the things that make it attractive to day cruisers…no Royal Palms, no Calico Jacks, no Tiki Beach. The only place left is Public Beach and it doesn’t offer the “beach bar” vibe many people want. It’s crowded and just not very appealing. The hotels don’t want them on their property. Shopping in Georgetown isn’t a big attraction. Turtle Farm and Sting Ray city are the only attractions. There is a bigger problem to address before the piers…what can be done to make this cruise stop attractive? The product now is not what was available before.
Need to cultivate overnight stays instead of becoming a budget vacation option just with a pier. What’s the point when there isn’t many attractions for the cruisers and the cruisers get hawked on the beach. Like many say, with Palms closed and Calicos, there is only Sting Ray and Turtle Farm. Putting a pier in without addressing issues first like a tourism product for cruisers is anti-environment friendly.
Hopefully soon with Mt. Trashmoore capped, there will be hiking trails for the cruisers.
I almost told Bryant this but he was sitting first class on his flight back from Miami so I couldn’t speak to him as I was in peasant class on American Airlines with his staffer.
Cruise tourists are pests, who further clog up the island, and make life for residents a nightmare. The industry can’t collapse fast enough.
There’s also no business case for long haul tourist flights from anywhere else to bring in more stay over tourists, because:
1. Those flights will be more expensive than existing warm weather options, so tourists won’t be interested.
2. Cayman is already too expensive for most tourists, in large part because a bloated, incompetent and corrupt CIG and civil service/de facto welfare scheme are funded by 20%/22% import taxes on everything entering.
3. Cayman is now a [far] more expensive version of Miami. If tourists want that, they can go to Miami; if they want undeveloped islands, there are cheaper options. Cayman should forget tourism, and focus on increasing offshore work. The government hasn’t screwed that up yet (but with the increases in fees, beneficial ownership changes, and lack of competitiveness with Singapore, it’s on track to do so).
I don’t understand Bryan’s comment, “I think it would be wise for us to hold a referendum in the next election, so that the people can settle the question once and for all, of whether the Cayman Islands should have piers.”
Wasn’t that unanimously decided back in 2019 by the people of Grand Cayman? Is Bryan just making sure everyone hasn’t changed their minds? This is a waste of an agenda, and more important matters for the island and Caymanians should be addressed first.