LANGEVIN: TOURISM OUTLOOK ENCOURAGING

Cayman’s tourism rebound continues on an impressive upward trajectory with late 2023/early 2024 arrivals exceeding expectations.

Nowhere is this more evident than in hotels and other stay-over accommodations.

General Manager of The Ritz-Carlton, and former president of the Cayman Islands Tourism Association, points to his establishment and evidence of this along with reports from other operators.

“We’re certainly back into the game and we experienced an amazing year of 2023,” he told Caymanian Times publisher Ralph Lewis in an interview on the Cayman Conversations podcast.

The trend is continuing so far into 2024 he reported stating that in their strategy “we have kind of reinvented our model 2023…and so moving forward we are keeping on growing at the same as in 2023.”

With a strong focus on creating a memorable customer experience, the Ritz Carlton boss said this ties into the overall tourism goal of the wider Cayman tourism industry.

“I’ve been listening to a lot of economists about that situation where actually the luxury layer of the society, especially in the US gain even more buying power, which is good for our business in Cayman.”

“The question is,” he added, “when they come here we leave such an impression, such memories….we create an environment where customers want to come back. That is something we cannot take for granted.”

JOBS AND TRAINING

In that regard, Mr Langevin said a lot of emphasis is placed on training.

“We get to work on it every day, we have to train every day,” he stated.

The aspect of training led to a discussion about jobs in the tourism industry for Caymanians, a regularly recurring topic.

In Cayman’s case, the Ritz Carlton’sGeneral Manager said there is the advantage of choices in jobs and career goals as the economy continues to rebound post-Covid.

He said opportunities in the tourism industry could also serve as a launching pad for persons considering moving into specialized areas within tourism or other industries.

“On this island people have choices, it can be as lawyers, it can be in finance, it can be business, it can be in healthcare. I mean, there’s so many opportunities.”

Within that, he urges a strong focus on education “to make sure that young Caymanians when they come into the workplace are prepared to take the top positions.”

However, Mr Langevin said a key issue that needs to be addressed is the available local workforce being outpaced by the number of jobs coming on stream currently and in projected expansions in the tourism industry.

“I don’t think that the population in Cayman is growing at the pace where the businesses are growing because every industry has demands, it doesn’t matter if it’s in construction, in real estate, in the lawyer’s office, in finance, in the hotel, or business restaurant business. So, there is more demand than actual production at this point of employee capacity.”

MANAGING GROWTH

This is an issue that he feels warrants close attention given its broad economic and growth implications.” The island as a whole is always going to need an expat population to be able to satisfy the needs of the economy,” he concluded.

The president of the Ritz Carlton in Cayman remains optimistic about the future of the jurisdiction, especially as a preferred tourism destination. However, he stresses that it requires a proactive approach to manage growth.

“We cannot assume that the economy is going to stand to a certain level. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that. So we know that there will be more need for more businesses, more tourism employees and so on. So the question is, how controlled would it be or not? And at the same time, it comes with all the infrastructure that is needed to support the growing economy and right now, I think that we have a tendency to be reactive, not proactive. It doesn’t matter if it’s a matter of housing, an issue of transportation, airport, you name it. I don’t think there’s a clear vision of where we are going and do we have the infrastructure to support that. So that is concerning.”