Tourism Head eyes US Thanksgiving for hotel sector

Friday, October 1, 2004

The public and private sector of the tourism industry are working together to re-build and re-open the three Cayman Islands for business as soon as possible. Pilar Bush, Acting Director of the Department of Tourism, stated: “We are fortunate that Cayman Brac and Little Cayman suffered relatively less damage to the tourism infrastructure and the reconstruction efforts there are already underway. The Sister Islands are open for business and have been for more than a week now, able to receive dive groups, nature enthusiasts and families looking for a tranquil sea-side getaway.” 

With the inter-island air service available, the Department of Tourism is making sure its business partners and visitors know that two of the three Cayman Islands are in fact open. 

Ms Bush described the efforts being undertaken at this time. “As far as Grand Cayman tourism is concerned, the Ministry and Department of Tourism have jointly met with representatives of Cayman Islands Tourist Authority (CITA) three times so far and weekly meetings are scheduled through the end of the year,” she said. 

Together the Government and private sector are working aggressively to facilitate the reconstruction of the tourism industry, acknowledging the destructiveness of Hurricane Ivan will take months to repair for some operators. 

An island wide re-opening date has not yet been confirmed for Grand Cayman pending the resumption of necessary utilities and services for the reconstruction efforts. However, the industry, especially the hotel sector, is tentatively looking at re-opening a cross section of accommodation in time for the American Thanksgiving, while certain individual properties expect to be ready for inspection and re-opening as early as mid-October.

The Hyatt passed an important milestone on Wednesday evening, 29 September when the bridge and beach suites building, was lit up for the first time since the passing of Ivan.

“We are on generator still but it is great to be able to light the place up”, said Mark Bastis the General Manager. Mr Bastis was also very optimistic about future guests. “We are working very hard here to dry the place out completely and we will be ready to receive our first guests by 1 December.”

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