Cayman made quite a splash at the Dive Equipment and Marketing Association Show (DEMA) held 4-7 October.
The annual trade event for industry insiders was held in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Since the event’s inception, nearly 24 years ago, the Cayman Islands has led in DEMA innovations and promotions. The industry credits Cayman with the most colourful and exciting show in recent times. That was the year when all 100 of the Cayman contingent arrived in pirate’s costumes and the entire Cayman pavilion was a giant pirate theme.
This year’s delegation comprised the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism officials and the Cayman Islands Tourism Association members.
Cayman’s participating booth holders were Boatswain’s Beach/Cayman Turtle Farm, Don Fosters Diving, Red Sail Sports, DOT, Sunset House, Cayman National Watersports Association/Black Princess Charters, Brac Reef Beach Resort, Divi Tiara Beach Hotel, Little Cayman Beach Resort, Dive Tech, Cathy Church Underwater Photography, Cayman Airways, Ocean Frontiers and Guy Harvey, Inc.
The DOT’s Shomari Scott co-ordinated the public sector effort in partnership with Steve Broadbent, CITA’s Watersports chairman.
Tourism Minister Charles Clifford personally reinforced the government’s commitment to dive tourism by attending the opening session and touring the show. He expressed satisfaction with the Cayman presentation and met with several of the dive operators and wholesalers.
Mr. Clifford announced he will be conducting a series of reviews with the private sector and DOT to insure the diving marketing strategy and timing is exactly right.
In looking ahead to 2006, the Minister predicted that stay-over tourism would return to the pre-Ivan air arrival numbers and set a goal to equal the 2002 figure of 300,000 air arrivals. He believes that the continuing addition of room inventory and the increased airlift from Spirit Airlines will make this objective a reality.
Mr. Rick Blake, VP of Marketing for Cayman Airways, was on hand with his staff and brought back the ‘Cayman Passport’ promotion. Attendees received a blank passport at the Cayman Airways booth and then had each Cayman booth holder stamp their passport in order to be eligible to win a prize at a drawing held by DOT. Prizes were donated by the private sector booth holders, their respective hotels and Cayman Airways.
The Director of Tourism, Pilar Bush, had her hands full at the show with a series of non-stop meetings with members of the dive industry.
No DEMA show is complete without a party and once again Shomari Scott, organised, planned and conducted the Cayman party. It was rated by many as the highlight of the show. A Who’s Who of the diving worldwide migrated to Margaritaville where most attendees felt more like they were in Cayman than in Vegas.
One of the largest and most colourful booths was that of conservationist, artist and marine activist Guy Harvey. Guy and his staff did their usual high quality presentation of promoting the Cayman Islands as well as introducing his new line of Guy Harvey licensed sportswear products.
The Sunset House was represented by Dee Montieth, the dive resorts new general manager. She is projecting a 20 per cent increase in dive resort business in 2006 and is said to be looking foreword to playing a rebuilding role in Cayman diving.
Neither the Cayman Islands Tourism Association nor its Sister Islands counterpart directly participated in the show, however, the former was preparing for the arrival of the 22 SCUBABOWL 2005 participants.
The Cathy Church booth manned by Cathy and her husband, Herb Rafael, showcased their all-new digital programme. Her switch from film to digital cannot be underestimated considering Cathy has been in a leadership role in underwater film photography for more than 40 years.
Cathy is a recipient of the DEMA ‘Reaching Out Award’ by the DEMA Hall of Fame and is an ambassador of the Cayman Islands.
Another Cayman ambassador seen rushing from one Cayman meeting to another was Rod McDowall. Rod’s Red Sail staff managed most of the booth activity while Rod, as usual, devoted his time and energy to Cayman business.
Tom Ingram, executive director of DEMA, took time out of his busy schedule to congratulate the Cayman contingent on their support of the show and ‘Anchor Status’ as a pavilion.
He estimated that total attendance of the show would exceed 12,000 attendees, almost double last year’s figure. Mr. Ingram was equally upbeat about diving in 2006, despite current flight fuel costs, and revealed that DEMA research indicates that the American public believes they have an absolute right to travel and wish to exercise it.
Next year’s DEMA Show is scheduled for November, in Orlando, Florida.
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