It’s not unusual for life to throw unpleasantries at us from time to time.
But if we have advanced knowledge of the upcoming trials and tribulations, we can better prepare.
We can see by the numbers that this is going to be a slower than usual summer season for the tourism industry of the Cayman Islands.
But that’s OK.
It just gives us more time to get bigger and better at what we already do a good job of – entertaining guests from the entire world.
Those in the tourism industry have dubbed this lag a hurricane hangover, and while we don’t need the hair of the dog that bit us to overcome this, we do need to take stock of what we have to offer, how to successfully market it and how to plan for a better 2006.
While it’s true some tourists may be gun shy because of Hurricane Ivan’s little visit to the Cayman Islands last September, the numbers of actual accommodations speak loud and clear.
The inventory of rentable rooms just isn’t as large as it was pre-Ivan.
The natural environment is still sparse and in some cases, unattractive. Just take a look around at the uprooted casuarinas trees and the derelict cars and debris that still sit on roadsides and people’s yards.
Add to that the awesome amount of money that other areas with beaches are spending to attract tourists and it would seem that the Cayman Islands has an impossible uphill climb.
But nothing is impossible and that, which does not kill you, only makes you stronger.
There is already so much evidence of the resiliency of the Cayman Islands. We have seen businesses – both large and small – rebound and recover.
Each day another house gets a new roof.
There have also been great efforts at bringing back some sense of normalcy to the tourism industry.
We gladly accept the cruise ship passengers back to our shores and it’s nice to see tourists once again flowing in to the Owen Roberts International Airport.
The light for tourism for this summer and fall may not be as bright as we would like, but it is still shining.
It behoves each of us to take this slow time to take stock in our own properties and clean up so that visitors to our island won’t be bombarded with the mess left over from Ivan and the eventual rebuilding.
Together we can all bring tourism back to its full force and help convince friends and relatives to come on down.
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