The Cayman Islands this year is aiming to reach up to 40% of 2019’s stayover tourism levels, which equates to between 175,000 and 200,000 visitors, according the islands’ director of tourism.
Rosa Harris, in an online presentation to the Caribbean Tourism Organization Tuesday morning, said it was unclear right now if that target would be met, as it depends on the take-up of increased airlift which will be occurring this month and in March.
In 2019, which was a record year for stayover tourism in Cayman, 502,739 passengers arrived by air.
Harris said the government’s goal was to take in up to 40% of 2019’s accommodation tax remittances. The revenue from tourist accommodation charges in 2019 was $36.5 million, according to Economics and Statistics Office data.
She said it was not possible to extrapolate, based on January’s arrival statistics, on whether the target would be reached until “we see air arrivals ramp up … in February and March”.
However, the government is anticipating that if arrivals go as expected, the numbers for the summer months will be “very strong”, she said.
A number of airlines have already restarted routes between Cayman and the US, after an absence of almost two years, and additional routes are coming online over the next few weeks. These include:
From 12 Feb.: United Airlines – Chicago, Houston, Newark and Washington DC
From 17 Feb.: American Airlines – Miami; Jet Blue – Fort Lauderdale
From 26 Feb.: Cayman Airways – Denver
From 5 March: American Airlines – Charlotte; Delta – Atlanta
From 10 March: Southwest – Fort Lauderdale
From 12 March: Southwest – Baltimore
Currently, stayover tourism numbers remain low, due to limited airlift and continuing COVID regulations that require pre-arrival testing and antigen testing two, five and seven days after arriving.
Last month, government eased some of the entry requirements for tourists, including allowing unvaccinated children under 12 to come here on their parents’ vaccination status without the need for quarantine, paving the way for more families to visit Cayman.
Harris said that when tourists do return in larger numbers, there will be plenty of accommodation for them.
In an update on Cayman’s room capacity, she explained that, as of January 2022, there were a total of 7,086 bedrooms available for tourists across all three islands – 3,269 in condos, 2,668 in hotels and 1,149 in villas.
The tourism director said discussions on cruise tourism were continuing between the cruise lines and the government, and the return of cruise ships would be “imminent” once a consensus on health and safety protocols could be agreed upon.
She added that regulations regarding the current ban on cruise ships were being updated on a month-by-month basis. Cabinet recently extended the ban on ships until 28 Feb.
The government has requested that only ships that have Grand Cayman as their first port of call visit the island, and that passengers undergo lateral flow tests before disembarking here. Michele Paige, president of the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association, who was among the cruise representatives who met with government officials last week, has said that testing disembarking passengers is not a practical option, but that cruise lines would look at whether Cayman could be a first port of call for some ships.
Harris, in a question-and-answer session following her presentation, said that as well as allowing back ships that had Cayman as their first port of call, the government was considering also granting access to cruise ships that have visited privately owned islands immediately prior to coming to Cayman. “Those would be our initial terms,” she said.
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Let me help the PACT ….
Currently, stayover tourism numbers remain low, due to limited airlift and continuing COVID regulations that require pre-arrival testing and antigen testing two, five and seven days after arriving.
The numbers will REMAIN LOW for so long as anti-gen testing is required on day 2, 5, and 7.
The previous government did a brilliant job keeping our people safe until vaccines were available. Unfortunately once covid got loose in the general population it spread like wildfire. We now have over 7,000 REPORTED cases plus no doubt many more unreported/ unknown.
The most likely reason for anyone to catch this is locally not from a tourist. Time to eliminate the 2/5/7 regime which could result in someone being stuck in their hotel room for weeks and perhaps even losing their job back home.
“Currently, stayover tourism numbers remain low, due to continuing COVID regulations that require pre-arrival testing and antigen testing two, five and seven days after arriving”
And needing to have a negative PCR to be able to leave isolation. We just cancelled next week’s trip. We want to visit but can’t possibly afford to be trapped there for weeks at $400+/day
Reasons why 40% is not possible in 2022:
1) Testing on days 2/5/7
2) Possibility of being stuck in quarantine until a negative PCR is achieved
3) Not allowing children ages 12-17 unless they are vaccinated
4) Airlines can’t afford to fly to any destination with unfilled seats
It is my opinion that 40% of 2019 tourism numbers MIGHT be achievable in 2023 but this depends on CIG making rational decisions regarding what is required of visitors once they arrive.
I got the Alpha Covid in 2020. When the vaccines were available I got the 2 shots and the booster.
Got Omicron Covid last month.
Only reason I got the vaccine was because I wanted to travel to Grand Cayman.
Got down in November. Ran the gauntlet with “Travel Cayman”, testing day 2, 5, 10 and Jetblue airport nonsense.
Everyone will eventually get Covid. Some won’t even know they were exposed.
Just open up mon!
The gov’t should not be setting 40% as a goal, that is such a shame. The goal should be 100%. While we all know this isn’t possible due to the mis management by the gov’t, this is still a poor attitude. The testing on Day 2, 5, and 7 is stupid. United Airlines is returning to the island this Saturday with 4 flights on Saturday & Sunday on their largest 737, the 737-900. United will be the largest carrier in Cayman, and the government should not take this for granted. As soon as they see seats not selling they will pull the flights!! The government is so behind in everything Covid related as well. The airline TSA mask mandate is set to expire on March 18 and with covid cases rapidly declining and airline CEOs in support of lifting it, it is becoming increasingly likely it will be removed. What is Cayman going to do? Require masks on flights? In addition, there is talk of the US removing the pre-departure covid test requirement. This will cause an increase in demand and if the Islands continue to require these nonsensical tests, no one is gonna come. Seriously open up!! It’s time to live with this!!
Those flights are all getting cancelled as long as the unscientific testing requirements remain. I still debate the numbers that the tourism association is throwing around of 450 visitors per day. That many people are really taking the gamble of running the testing/quarantine gauntlet? No way.
The real kicker is that at this point importing planes full-on tourists from the USA would likely LOWER Caymans overall infection rate. Madness.
So they want all visitors from a cruise ship to have an lft and the cruise lines say “Can’t do it” and the CIG says “that’s our terms” and the cruise lines say “well then no deal”. What on earth is going on here?
Also the CIG insists they want the islands to be the first port of call, but maybe second is ok if it is after one of the cruise line owned private islands? So is the logic that the cruise guests have no outside contact with anyone after they leave the origin? And that nobody will get covid from any outside staff living on those private islands? Everyone knows (except the CIG apparently) that covid has an incubation period of 3-5 days. What sort of logic is this?
Maybe these talks are just a show for the Caymanian people, because we are either missing part of the information, or this is extremely illogical and unscientific (but I guess we are used to both of those from the CIG).
If the Caymanian people keep this government in the next election, they get exactly what they deserve.
Why no mention of cruise ship passenger numbers, they should be limited to less than 40% if we want to grow our stayover numbers. As for our requirements for the cruise ships on arrival, I suggest they will be quietly withdrawn.
C W. Thank you for sharing. It’s become absolute nonsense.
“testing disembarking passengers is not a practical option”
Did the petitioning cruise leadership actually say this? But worse, is the CIG going to cave to this refusal to comply with stated regulations? Clearly the cruise industry needs Cayman more than Cayman needs the cruisers. Why should the Covid-19 petri dish occupants be given priority to enter with greater ease and nonchalance than heavily pre-tested, and repeatedly-tested stayovers? If you care about the economy recovering why discriminate so abusively against stayover guests?
My family has been to the Cayman’s 30 plus times since 1980.
We were looking forward to returning after 2 years when we left just days before the lockdown.
I am concerned about how the testing on day 2,5 and 7 is going to impact our visit. It would seem that requiring people to be fully vaccinated with a negative Covid test the day before travel would be adequate.
When I expressed my concerns to the Department of Tourism as to whether I wanted to come to the Cayman and possibly endure long waits at the few testing sites, my reply was “Sorry about are restrictions”
Has anybody done the math?
Let’s say 175,000 that’s approximately 530 people per day every day 7 days a week for the rest of the year. If the testing remains in force all year that’s 525,000 antigen/LFT tests that would need to be done if the average “tourist” stays a minimum 1 week. (I’m finding hard to believe a “tourist” would come for less)
At approximately 15 min per test that’s 131,250 hours to preform 525,000 LFT’s. That’s nearly 50 people working 8 hours per day 7 days a week for the rest of the year.
Keep in mind this is based on ‘tourism” being linear. AND IT’S NOT! There could be days when 1,000’s of people will require a certified LFT all on the same day.
And the cost? 525,000 X $25 = $13,125,000
They are never going to achieve these numbers, tourist or otherwise, if they stubbornly stick to the 2, 5, 7 day testing.
Just sayn.