National Tourism Plan is launched

The National Tourism Plan was officially tabled in Parliament, on Wednesday, 24 July 2024 by Tourism and Ports Minister Kenneth Bryan. The NTP is being touted as a “road map for enhancing the competitiveness of the Cayman Islands tourism industry while ensuring the sustainability of our cultural and natural capital”.

Minister Bryan explained that the Plan included strategic initiatives aimed at enhancing visitor experiences, promoting environmental conservation, and fostering economic growth.

“From innovative marketing campaigns to investments in infrastructure and workforce development, each aspect of this plan is designed to propel us forward on the path to recovery and success,” he said.

Director of Tourism, Rosa Harris, said since its establishment, the mission of the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism had been to attract and retain visitors to the Cayman Islands by developing and implementing sustainable policies and initiatives in collaboration with all stakeholders for the benefit of our people.

In the NTP, Ms Harris spoke of the need for future-proofing Cayman’s tourism product.

“The population of the Cayman Islands has grown significantly since the last version of our plan,” she confirmed. “This growing population, and a growing demand from visitors to choose Cayman as their warm weather destination of choice, presents our islands with an opportunity to ensure that we not only manage tourism well, but that we also manage it sustainably.”

The National Tourism plan provided Cayman with a roadmap to maximise and spread the benefits of tourism development across the three Cayman Islands, she said, but warned that a map was only useful if you follow the directions.

“To be successful, this plan requires the full partnership, participation and collaboration of all our tourism stakeholders including hoteliers, restaurants, retail, ground transportation, tours and attractions to challenge how we’ve done business in the past and change how we do business moving forward,” she commented.

Some of the goals of the NTP include to expand and diversify Cayman’s domestic tourism product, promote and grow sports and event tourism, diversify the tourism product with greater eco-tourism focus and expand into emerging and secondary tourism markets. The Cayman Islands will be marketed to high net-worth visitors, Cayman Airways routes will be expanded, and Cayman Brac and Little Cayman will be promoted. In addition, cruise tourism would be “reimagined” and infrastructure will be increased and improved in the eastern district.

Minister Bryan said that it would be essential that Cayman remained “adaptive and forward-thinking”, continuously evolving to meet the changing needs and expectations of visitors in a post pandemic environment.

“By embracing innovation, sustainability, and the aspirations of our people, we can ensure that the Cayman Islands remain a premier destination for generations to come,” he said. “The recommendations in the NTP are intended to ensure that we spread the benefit of tourism development throughout the country.”

Read more about the vision for Cayman’s tourism future in further editions of the Caymanian Times as we continue this important series.