Editorial
Having to ProveOurselves
Sir Vassel Johnson, the first Caymanianto be honoured with knighthood from H. M. Queen Elizabeth II,during a debate in the Legislative Assembly in the early 80'swhen he held the post as Financial Secretary, in response to aquestion raised as to whether or not a particular bill's passagewill succeed, remarked: "It will have to be put to the test."
Such is the situation one of the two majorpillars of the Cayman Islands is presently facing with the appointmentof a new Director of Tourism. In tandem, the national flag carrier,Cayman Airways (CAL), although a separate entity yet sointricately linked to the territory's tourism health isalso under observation by the airline's shareholders, the peopleof the Cayman.
Standing at the helm of these two entitiesare two individuals charged with the complex task of developingmarketing strategies to win the attention of visitors. Yet theyhave come to the Cayman Islands with a crippling disadvantage they have to "become maladjusted" to the mannerand preferences in which business is conducted here in order tofind favor with the supporting players who could help them winor lose the quest to make these two entities successful.
Ironically, instead of a "win-win"situation with the Department of Tourism (DoT) and CAL becausethe DoT spends some $25 million annually to win tourists for theIslands, and CAL loses just about the same amount what weare now faced with is a "win or lose" situation. Thisis quite a quandary.
Perhaps this is why we have experiencedinfinitesimal growth in stay-over visitors in recent years. Sowhat then has to be fixed? What has worked in the earlier dayswhen Cayman was at its zenith of tourism growth?
Our country's history shows a focus on thesuccessful utilization of local expertise and personnel. Thistradition influenced the themes and products in such a way asto create a hard-fast loyalty and pride among residents and thousandsof returning visitors, both cruise ship passengers and air travelers,who formed the foundation of the idea 'Things Caymanian'.
With due respect, those who have 'just come'have not got a clue as to how the Cayman Islands became successful,in spite of our smallness. Recent arrivals do not know anythingabout our ability to work hard, long hours, our natural entrepreneurshipand, in so many cases, our ability to put previous experienceearned while employed and educated overseas, to work here.
These circumstances, combined with the factthat we are far more familiar with our own market, are unfortunatelynot seen by those in charge of making decisions as a definitiveadvantage. We hope that those brought in to take charge will notonly listen and learn, but also respect and utilize the vast experienceavailable locally.
Sadly, there is often unjustified criticismdirected towards our own people - who at most times must settlefor a subordinate post because of the size of the Civil Service'spayroll. Yet, millions of dollars have been, and are still beingspent to bring new 'expertise' to the Cayman Islands; we continueto hire personnel from overseas to direct and create programmesin an attempt to improve our products, when there are many herein Cayman who are in a better position to satisfy local demandsand meet local challenges proficiently. We too, have learnt fromthe mistakes of others and ourselves.
The wheels of Cayman's progress in tourismcannot be reinvented. Instead we should revisit past successes.Our neighbours in Jamaica, Cuba and the Bahamas are seeing a markedincrease in visitors. Instead of focusing on the sometimes-negativepress reports, those countries have focused on redefining andimproving their tourism product.
It therefore behooves the country's leadersand potential investors, both in the private and public sectorsas well as those who have come from overseas to help us achieveour goals to take note: because there is now a preponderance ofinterest by the media and public at large in monitoring thosewho have been contracted to serve the community, these individualswill be subject to the same scrutiny which has made every democracyprosper.