Canada may be only responsible for 7% of overall visitation to Cayman Islands, but at the CTO/IATA Conference in the Cayman Islands Monday morning, the Hon. Minister Kenneth Bryan and Director of Tourism, Rosa Harris say it's an important market for them and there are plans to grow.
"Canada is very, very important to us. We have a strong relationship with Canada for many decades in our development and tourism," Bryan tells TravelPulse Canada.
Harris says they are active in promotional planning and have invested more in Canada both during the pandemic and for the upcoming winter season.
"We've had some great broadcast wins in the last two years and have been hosting media and travel trade in destination. Yes, Canada is a secondary market for us, but we see the return on our investment. Though Toronto is where the largest portion of the market share originates, our opportunities are always focused on diversification. We'd like to see travellers coming from many other provinces throughout Canada."
Bryan agrees and says the addition of new fleet of jets will provide better access to longer flights from across the country.
"We believe this will give us the opportunity to access any province in Canada. One of the areas of focus will be Vancouver as we want to go to the western side of the country and also after the Asian markets. Vancouver has a large Asian population with high net worth, which is our key focus."
Overall tourism numbers to July 2022 are close to reaching 2019 levels, which are used as the comparison because not only is it the last year of travel prior to the onset of the pandemic, but it was the best year in tourism.
Between January and June of this year, the Cayman Islands welcomed over 114,000 stayover visitors, which represents 41% of air arrivals recorded at the same period in 2019. Visitation is moving in the right direction on an upward trajectory - April's arrivals came in at 55% and July arrivals represent 63% of 2019 numbers.
Bryan has set a Department of Tourism overall target of 40% of 2019, which translates to approximately 200,000 visitors by the end of 2022.
There are currently nine properties in the pipeline with completion dates ranging from the year 2023 to 2025. When completed these new properties will add several new international brands such as Mandarin Oriental, Vida and Grand Hyatt to the accommodation sector while providing jobs in the industry.
"With the year of 2022, we can see that room rates have returned to the peak pre-pandemic levels. We all know that the rate of hotel is able to charge per night is driven by market forces. This tells us for the first half of this year, there was a high demand for hotel rooms, and travellers have been willing to pay more for a chance to vacation in the Cayman Islands after the challenges and stresses of being locked away with COVID-19."
Bryan also reported a 1% increase in airline seats (compared to first quarter 2019), driven largely in part by increased American Airlines connections in Charlotte and Miami and United Airlines gateways in Washington and Newark. In November 2022, Cayman Airways will be launching a new direct route from Los Angeles, which, with 160 seats on each flight, Bryan says it will be "a game changer" for the destination.
A new waterfront development project is also underway in the heart of Georgetown, a completely new tourism attraction which is expected to be completed by 2024. The multipurpose tourism venue will integrate, integrate, training, leisure, dining and entertainment all in one central location. The property is almost two acres in size with a stunning ocean view. It has over 20,000 square feet of space that will provide a new venue for the Cayman Islands craft market. It will be used as a venue to host musical events and many celebrations
This waterfront tourism experience will provide a home base to showcase or Caymanian culture expressed through food, arts, crafts, and music. But Bryan says most importantly, it will offer on the job training and work experience for Caymanians in the tourism industry.
"My team and I are working hard to ensure that our tourism product firstly, constantly contributes to our economy. Secondly, preserves our precious natural and cultural heritage, but most importantly, creates an opportunity to display the beauty and friendliness of our people.
"We know that there is a lot of pent-up demand from people around the world. And they have started traveling again after being stuck at home for two years. Our goal is to bring them here and give them unforgettable experiences. After all, where else in the world can you dance with the stingrays in the morning and feast on five-star cuisine in the evening?"
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