The issue of rising crime in the Cayman Islands is beginning to weigh on the minds of tourists, and could affect their future visits here.
One segment of tourists that has expressed concerns about Cayman crime situation is the former Indies Suites club members.
When more than 30 club members contacted the Caymanian Compass earlier this month about the Indies Suites situation, nine of them mentioned the rising crime here.
‘We are more alarmed about the crime issues there than the hurricane damage at this point,’ said Mary Beth Crittendon of California as one reason her family would never buy another timeshare property in Cayman.
Nancy DeCristofaro of Connecticut said Hurricane Ivan damage is not the only reason they have not visited since the storm.
‘Another reason we have not visited is because there seems to be an increase in crime and the police don’t appear to be taking this problem as seriously as they should.’
When contacted to see if other tourists were expressing concerns about crime here, one local tourism industry manager suggested the Indies Suites owners might be expressing these feelings because they are already upset with what has happened with their investment in the now-resold property.
Club member Rod Broome disagrees, and instead thinks it is because Indies Suites owners are following the local media more these days.
Prior to 2005, Mr. Broome, who has been coming to the Cayman since the early 1990s, said he never paid attention to the local media.
‘We never read any local newspapers, and back in those early days, online local papers were not around,’ he said.
‘With the onset of our Indies situation, I think most of the group now look online at Cayman Net News and Caymanian Compass often for articles, not only on (the Indies Suites) situation, but also about how Grand Cayman is handling the recovery after Ivan. Of course, any bad news gets around the group.’
Mr. Broome outlined some of the news items group members have read about.
‘There are many stories of burglaries all over Grand Cayman. In Rum Point, some owners noted they have been burgled more than once. There are muggings in the streets; robberies in broad daylight downtown and at one major hotel on Seven Mile Beach. There are negative stories about police action or inaction.
‘This is not sour grapes. What this has done more so than our situation at Indies is… turn our group away from Grand Cayman, and to look at and visit other vacation spots that may not be as nice as Grand Cayman, but are safe, cheaper, and the local people are happy to see us.’
Club members Bill Fravel says he and his wife keep up with the Cayman news via websites.
‘My wife feels that Grand Cayman is no longer a safe place to visit,’ he said. ‘She is afraid to even take a taxi ride during our layovers to and from Little Cayman.
‘She formerly felt she could walk back from the Strand at any hour of the night and not be worried.
‘Our impression is that the Government (it could have been the last one just voted out) lost control of the situation after Ivan, especially in relaxing the strict [immigration] controls on people. It has not regained control.
‘It also appears that there was a significant amount of cronyism, if not outright corruption, in the Government that contributed to the situation.’
Not all of the club members have just read about the crime issue from overseas. Some, like club member Craig Wood, have seen signs while visiting.
‘The crime on the Island is atrocious,’ Mr. Wood said. ‘When we first visited the Island in 1996, it reminded us of Bermuda; safe and secure with a population that appreciated the contribution to the economy by visitors.
‘It has slowly deteriorated over the years, but the acceleration following Ivan is astounding. During our visit last March/April, there were gangs of thugs hanging out on the public beaches. They were rude, abusing alcohol and drugs in public, and threatening to visitors.
Mr. Wood also mentioned two murders by guns during his visit.
Even some club members who have taken the Indies Suites loss in stride are worried about the crime issue.
‘We will continue to come to Cayman until we decide that the crime and violence that seems to be increasing becomes too much,’ said Richard Thwaites of England.
Gordon Walker of Minnesota expressed similar sentiments.
‘We have not gone to any other Caribbean Island and won’t as long as the law enforcers continue to hold the crime down to acceptable levels,’ he said.
Karie Bergstrom, president of the Cayman Islands Tourism Association said her organisation is monitoring the crime situation here very closely.
She said CITA and the Department of Tourism are working together to re-energise the Crime Stoppers programme to raise awareness of what visitors can do to prevent becoming victims of crime.
‘One example might be not leaving valuables sitting on a coffee table in a beach condo with the sliding glass door open while walking on the beach,’ she said. ‘There needs to be a subtle awareness of this for visitors, without something that’s overwhelming for them.’
The Ministry of Tourism and the Department of Tourism have not yet responded to written questions submitted last week concerning the impact of crime on tourism and possible ways of addressing the problem.
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