Up Front
US Opposition to OECD
A call forthe Cayman Islands to revoke its letter of commitment to the OECD's(Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development) so-called"harmful tax competition" initiative is being made byAmericans Andrew F. Quinlan, President of the Center for Freedomand Prosperity (CFP), a Washington, D.C.-based foundation andDan Mitchell, Ph.D., a Senior Fellow at The Heritage Foundation,a Washington, D.C. "think tank" and a leading experton tax competition.
Mr. MichaelAlberga
The two men, along with others from theFree Congress Foundation, Americans for Tax Reform and four U.S.congressional staffers, were part of an 8-man panel which addressedmore than a hundred businessmen and women at the monthly CaymanIslands Chamber of Commerce (CoC) meeting on Wednesday. The visitingparticipants' position against the OECD initiative was met withapparent enthusiastic approval by most of the eagerly listeningaudience.
The U.S. "ad hoc coalition" for tax competition, asthey described themselves, was scheduled to meet with membersof Cayman's Executive Council (ExCo) Wednesday afternoon for asimilar presentation to Government. The Governor, Mr. Peter J.Smith, is the Chairman of ExCo, which is comprised of the threeofficial members: the Chief Secretary, Mr. James Ryan; the ActingAttorney General, Last week, delegates of the Caribbean TourismOrganization visited the Cayman Islands on the invitation of theMinister for Tourism, the Honourable W. McKeeva Bush, to meetwith government officials from the Ministry for Tourism and theDepartment of Tourism as well as private sector partners.
The delegation headed by Secretary-General,Mr. Jean Holder, also included Director of Human Resources Ms.Bonita Morgan, Manager of Research & Statistics Mr. ArleySobers and Director of Marketing Mr. Michael Youngman.
The delegation along with key Ministry ofTourism officials and Department of Tourism Senior Managementmet with private sector businesses including hotels, condominiums,restaurants, watersports representatives and other Members ofthe Legislative Assembly. The discussions focussed around thechanging face of Caribbean tourism and the challenges and opportunitiesthat we all face.
He also commented that the economic pressuresin the European markets have affected Caribbean tourism. Mr. Holderalso spoke about opportunities that we need to capitalize on forintra-Caribbean tourism to target visitors from other Caribbeanislands.
He emphasized the importance of public privatesector partnerships in all Caribbean countries and the need forclarity on marketing and communications decisions as we striveto maintain and grow market share.
Mr. Holder also commented that countrieshave to be aware of the community issues and the impacts thattourism has on its people and that we have to strive to make thisa symbiotic relationship that is positive for all involved.
Director of Marketing, Mr. Michael Youngmanbriefly spoke on the need for an integrated approach for marketingcommunications including advertising, public relations, marketingand sales activities. And the need to focus limited resourceson major markets. He also commented that "we are seeing manymore mergers and amalgamations these days and that the game ishighly competitive and being played on a much different levelthan before." He went on to highlight the marketing programmesthat the CTO is involved with as well as the agencies that workto promote the CTO.
Research and Statistics Manager, Mr. ArleySobers briefly spoke about the needs of a tourism destinationfrom a research perspective in order to make informed and educateddecisions.