The government and tourism authorities were on Wednesday tight-lipped over a new contract for a public relations agency to handle tourism promotion in the UK and Europe.
They refused to reveal why the same invitation to tender for a five-year contract had been announced in 2024 and again this year.
A request for proposal (RFP) was put out last June for the contract, with a deadline of 3 July for responses – but another RFP was issued this month.
Interviews were to be held the week of 22 July last year, with the contract to run from September 2024 to August 2029.
But the UK’s PR Week magazine earlier this month ran an article that said an RFP had gone out for a five-year contract for the same service with a deadline of 21 Feb.
Both the tourism ministry and the tourism department were asked almost two weeks ago what had happened with last year’s process and why, just a few months later, a new tender had been initiated.
The tourism ministry declined to discuss the matter.
But Director of Tourism Rosa Harris said on Monday it was “an active procurement process and I am not in a position to comment at this time”.
She added, “Following the final decision, the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism will provide an update to the local community, as we do for all procurements.”
Tourism figures released on Tuesday showed that visitor numbers from the UK and Ireland last year had shown “steady growth” of 3.9% over 2023.
The tourism department said its attendance at the World Travel Market in London in 2023 and Cayman coverage in major British newspapers such as The Sunday Times and the Daily Mail had helped boost figures.
Visitors from mainland Europe registered 12.3% growth from 2023 to 2024, with the department attributing the jump to investment in the German market through attendance at major trade shows such as ITB Berlin.
Promotion in the UK has hit troubles in the past, after the Cayman tourism director in the UK stood down in 2023 in the wake of controversy over several sponsorship deals in Britain.
Adrian White left the post after records obtained by the Compass under the Freedom of Information Act showed that the department had paid out more than half-a-million dollars in taxpayer cash in sponsorships to a string of UK-based sports teams to boost tourism.
One of the teams sponsored was a recreational field hockey team, with no fan base, linked to White.
Department of Tourism officials said they were unaware of links between White and the Old Cranleighan Hockey Club, which was given $10,000 a year from government for the three years covered by the FOI response, until the Compass investigation, which was published in February 2023.
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The fact is we get very few genuine holiday makers from the UK and Europe. Probably 90% of arrivals are businessmen, family members visiting relations in Cayman and scholars returning from boarding school. The Telegraph quoted the other day, hotel allowances for UK Govt employees travelling abroad. The highest allowances related to three countries one of which was the Cayman Islands. Could Ms Harris explain why European tourists would pay top dollar for long haul flights, expensive hotels (with a beach if you are lucky), expensive restaurants and free mosquitoes, when there are plenty of resorts in Europe and Florida with plenty of sand and beach at a fraction of the cost. I’ m unsure of what she is paying for the contract, but it can’t be worth it.
I agree with trustyman’s comment. Additionally, I would like to know, wether a Swiss agency is ordered to try to increase the numbers of Europeans tourists to the Cayman Islands, ignoring, that the largest market for potential visitors to this island is GERMANY?! And that no potential German tourist gains his information at the ITB in Berlin, because that’s a fair for agents and sellers of travel packages. HOW does the minister get into contact with the REAL people, who are searching for information about aims, worth while? We, personally, did very individual research about the Caymans, and other islands in the Caribbean, we knew about from friends, having spent their vacancies there, or even have settled there, like Curacao, Aruba + Bonaire, St.Lucia, Dominica, Tortola, Guadeloupe, Barbados and St.Martin – and stip-visited Grand Cayman twice, on our own behalf. But nobody of our friends firstly, knows anything “attracting” about the Caymans, nor, secondly, has been eye-catched by any advertising or PR-/Image-Campaign, dealing with the Caymans. Generally, the “image” of the Caymans is dominated by the green-woke-left-view of a “place for the money industry”, an appendix of the UK – but only far more away and far more expensive to get there and to stay there. Far more better alternatives are named Madeira, f.i., the Seychelles etcetera.: And that is a pity, to my opinion; but maybe it is the strategy of the Cayman leading politicians – and the UK-“big brother” in the background – just to keep non-empire-tourists away from British Overseas Territories, by making a visit attractive and AFFORDABLE ?! I don’t know, but Cayman officials surely may follow their own agenda, but I am pretty sure, there will not be any countable increase of tourism from central Europe, next time. Cheers, anyway! Kuno