In the second sitting of Parliament last Wednesday, Tourism and Ports Minister Kenneth Bryan revealed the current cost to date of the Waterfront Tourism Experience Project, which stood at CI$260,562.75. Minister Bryan said his Ministry would provide a further update once design plans had been approved.
Minister Bryan was also asked to provide an update on the current state of stay-over tourism, including the arrivals by month for 2023 with the monthly comparatives for 2024 and expected monthly arrivals by year-end. Figures were produced for 2023 stayover stay-over numbers, which saw a peak in December of 51,985 versus a low of 13,201 in September of last year.
Leader of the Opposition Joey Hew asked Minister Bryan if he was confident that the 2024 target for stayover arrivals would be met, to which Minister Bryan said he was. He noted that there were recent dips in actual arrivals due to severe weather but the projections for the remainder of the year remain steady.
Member for Bodden Town West Chris Saunders noted that both the 2023 arrivals and the revenue from the Tourism Accommodation Tax exceeded government budget forecasts. He asked Minister Bryan what measures were taken to yield these favourable outcomes. Minister Bryan said that revenue had been “record-breaking’’ for 2023 and the year before and that he expected similar success for 2024’s tourism revenue.
‘’While we have not exceeded the 2019 [stay-over] arrival numbers, we are getting more value out of each individual person that what we ever did before,” he stated.
Education
Deputy Leader of the Opposition Barbara Conolly asked Premier and Minister for Education Juliana O’Connor-Connolly to give an update on the current temporary arrangements for students and teachers of the Cayman Islands Further Education Centre (CIFEC) and the expected date for completing the permanent premises for CIFEC.
The Premier said CIFEC would be housed at the Family Life Centre until 30 November 2024, that location being granted the same security and janitorial provisions as government schools. The Department of Education Services was also supporting the facility’s information and communication technology needs, she said.
CIFEC also utilised the technical spaces of the John Gray High School from 2-4pm daily.
Contracted works for the remediation of the former George Hicks campus were now completed, she said. The anticipated timeline for handover of the site to DES was set for November 2024, however this was contingent on reassessment by the DES Building Construction Unit.
Environment
Minister for Sustainability and Climate Resiliency Katherine Ebanks-Wilks presented the Cayman Islands Climate Change Policy 2024-2050, stating ‘’the core goals of the Policy are to increase resilience to climate change, to support the transition to a low-carbon economy, and to ensure climate actions are fair and take future generations into account.’’
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