HOTELS on Grand Cayman are forecasting that 2007 will be a great year for their business, barring manmade and natural disasters.

The Cayman Islands Tourism Association (CITA) - the umbrella body for the hoteliers - told Cayman Net News that its members are very satisfied with occupancy levels at the moment.

\Executive Director of CITA Ken Thompson said the response from hotel managers reveals that stay-over tourism is getting stronger and they expected a boom in 2007.

"They're expecting to do well in 2007 and barring a catastrophe it will be a great year," he
said.
Using 2004 as the benchmark, the industry officials believe that 2006 is actually a comeback year, given the terror attacks in the US in 2001 and Hurricane Ivan in 2004.

The hospitality experts are confident that the upswing in guest business would lead to the Cayman Islands being back on the map when it comes to tourism. 

Mr Thompson explained that 2004 was one of the strongest in the last four years and the executives have decided to use it to gauge the development in the hospitality sector.

In the first quarter of 2006, the Department of Tourism (DOT) recorded 105,000 stay-over visitors, almost doubling that period in 2005.

By comparison, 128,000 stay-over guests chose the Cayman Islands as their holiday destination during January and April 2004, according to the DOT. 

The CITA official said hotels have reported over 80 percent bookings for the first quarter of the year with May counted as "seasonably" good, while June is regarded as "fairly" strong.

August, the slowest month, is expected to be just that after the "healthy" accommodation levels taper off in July, he said.

Cautiously, he said that August as a "soft" period could still do well as it has done on occasions and churn out 55 to 60 percent occupancy.

However, the lean season is also a welcome breather for some establishments, which are finalising new programmes and further developing their plans to meet the demands of their guests.

Speaking on the uncertain future of the Hyatt Regency, Mr Thompson said the advent of the Ritz-Carlton and new condominiums have cushioned what could have been a severe blow to the industry. 

The Hyatt Regency, which was the leading resort in Grand Cayman, has been operating well below its capacity for almost two years as the owners and their insurance company are battling over loss claims.

The resort was extensively flooded during Hurricane Ivan in September 2004, leaving its proprietors to offer less than 25 percent of their rooms to guests on the Seven Mile Beach.

CITA is delighted in the joint efforts of the public and private sectors, which have realised better organisation and marketing strategies that are paying dividends for the local industry.

"There have been better organisation and a more aggressive fashion in our marketing and it's paying off," he said.

Mr Thompson singled out the Summer Splash package as having a bright future pointing to an early advertising campaign that began in January of 2006.

"Summer Splash has been delivered to the major players in January and that has been well received, and things are happening," he said of the 'geared towards families' programme.

Another initiative devised by the DOT is the Free Fallin' package aimed at adults in the fall with promotions taking on a different angle from the summer blitz.

He said the dive sector, however, is not performing as well as the hotels and CITA is offering to assist them in turning the corner to capture some spoils from the growth in stay-over visitors.

He added that the dive operators have strategies of their own to woo divers and other guests to the various sites on the Island. One such plan is discounted packages, he said.

The dive operators are not doing too badly but they are not as ecstatic as their hotel counterparts, according to him.

CITA, which represents the interest of close to 200 tourism related establishments, is planning to launch a WetFest and Chili Cook-Off at the Royal Palms on 1 July 2006 as part of its summer activities.