Across the front page of the 30 Jan. 1974 Cayman Compass was the story, ‘Cayman Dollar Now Tied To U.S. Currency’. Noting that the local currency has “now broken away from the traditional link with sterling”, the article pointed to a Government Information Service press release that said the Cayman dollar was going to be “restored to its former parity with the US dollar” at CI$1 to US$1.20. The Cayman dollar still remains pegged to the US dollar at the same rate today. According to the release, the public was concerned over “the substantial increase in price” that had occurred over the past few weeks due to imported inflation. An “official source” confirmed that goods were “expected to cost the consumer less than before”.
A lighter story was about husband-and-wife musical team Al and Ina Harris, who had come back down to Cayman from their native Canada to entertain guests at Royal Palms during a seven-week stay. Playing along with them were Moxie Whitney on Hawaiian guitar, and dive industry pioneer Don Foster on drums.
An article on page 5 described good news for the tourism industry with more than 50,000 visitors predicted for 1974, which would be a new record. This forecast was shared by the Department of Tourism at its annual sales meeting held in Miami, and attended by Cayman officials as well as people from the private sector who market Cayman tourism, such as hoteliers, tour operators and airline representatives. Just for comparison, in the single month of December 2022 (the latest numbers available), air arrivals in Cayman hit 48,000.
Also of note was a photo showing people celebrating the official opening of Cayman National Bank, which just marked its 50th anniversary on 28 Jan. 2024. Included in the picture were, right, bank director Norberg Thompson and, second from right, bank chairman Benson Ebanks.
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