Up Front
Tourism Director Shift?
According to a Cayman Net News source, Mrs.Angela Martins, the Cayman Islands' Director of Tourism for thepast six years "has been reassigned" to another Governmentpost. When contacted for a comment in connection with this issue,Mrs. Martins said that she too had "heard such rumours"concerning herself and others - and stated that: "as faras I am aware, any such action must come from the Public ServiceCommission, through the Governor's office and I have had no communicationin this regard."
Mrs Angela Martins
On inquiry to the Governor's office, itwas suggested that any comment should come from the Ministry ofTourism. The Hon. McKeeva Bush, the Minister of Tourism, was unavailablefor comment, up to press time.
It is believed that this development, ifit is correct, "could be a result of private sector tourismdisenchantment over incorrect tourism figures", said oneprivate sector tourism principal, who requested anonymity.
A few weeks ago, the Minister read a statementin the Legislature which stated that the amount of tourists whichcame to the islands for the past three years may have been exaggeratedby as much as twenty percent. "Many people have wonderedwhy our economy is in decline when tourism figures are climbing,"added the principal. "Now we finally know why."
What exactly do tourism businesses do withtourism figures and where do the figures come from? In searchof some answers, Cayman Net News talked with Cayman Tourism Alliance(CTA) President, Mr. Rod McDowall to find out.
"The figures are air arrivals,"said Rod, "they can break them down into country of originand further into US States or cities. That gives us good informationon where to focus marketing efforts."
But it's important to note that the figuresdon't only affect business owners, their staff and service providersin tourism, they can touch the entire economy. Incorrect figurescan be quite damaging to people wanting to invest in real estateor businesses, it gives false hope to investors.
Mr. William Conolly, President of the CaymanIslands Hotel and Condominium Association (CIHCA) has for yearssuspected that the figures were off. "It has been difficultto justify that occupancies are down and while arrivals were saidto be up," said Mr. Connolly. "How do you convince ownersand employees?" Mr. Connoly said, he and others use the figuresto develop business plans, when they're incorrect; it distortstheir entire projection.
Government itself is also affected, if theprojected revenues are based on tourist air arrivals and if thoseare wrong, the revenue will also be wrong.
Consider also businesses like gas stationsand grocery stores.
"Myself and any other business man,"says Mr. David Foster, of the large supermarket chain, Foster's- "use those figures as a crystal ball, if they're off, we'regoing to over-provide. We haven't had an adverse affect as yet,but it could trickle down."
He said that when he heard that the tourismfigures could be off by as much as 20 percent, he was shockedthat the Government would release figures that weren't accurate,that: "..they should be able to tell the difference betweenreturning residents and tourists."
Meanwhile, there have been suggestions thata senior post in the Ministry of Tourism may also be subjectedto change.