No one familiar with Cayman Brac will need to be told of the immediate negative impact on the economy of that Island resulting from the closing of the Divi Tiara Beach Resort.
While Cayman Net News, the only media house with a constant presence on the Sister Islands, covers the ups and downs of economic progress there extensively, the significance of this development has even attracted the attention of news outlets around the world that usually forget our compatriots on Cayman Brac and Little Cayman.
The biggest employer on the Brac by far is Government. However, next on the list was Divi, which employed 37 people, including staff of their dive operation, to cater to 59 rooms and 12 timeshare units, only six of which have been refurbished and are usable.
The Divi property was originally built in the mid 1970's by a group of businessmen with Brac roots, notably Linton Tibbetts, in order to stimulate the economy of Cayman Brac. It was named the Brac Reef Hotel.
The property was sold to the DIVI Corporation with the understanding that Mr Tibbetts would build another hotel, since Cayman Airways (CAL) the national airline had committed to bring in a jet service to this middle Sister Island, with an average of 1500 residents if there were one hundred rooms to accommodate visitors.
The second Brac Reef is still in operation with 40 rooms and is the only functioning hotel on the Island today, though condominiums, a bed-and-breakfast and guest cottages now exist.
In the minds of many on the Brac, the fate of the Island is tied to the continued service of the CAL's jet service, even though both Sister Islands are served by the Cayman Airways Express Service, which runs six round trip inter-island flights with two Twin Otter aircraft.
The greatest fear on the Island is that the loss of the Divi hotel will precipitate a reduction of CAL's jet flights to the Brac, which presently schedules four evening flights, Thursdays through Sundays, and one mid-morning on Saturdays.
They have good grounds to fear. Like any airline, CAL must look at how much money is made or lost on each scheduled flight, and the loss of passenger numbers could seriously reduce business on the Brac route.
Even before Divi's announcement, the number one complaint from visitors and potential visitors to the Sister Islands is the cost and convenience of getting there.
The additional hop to the Brac on a CAL jet is $50, but only if passengers fly into the Cayman Islands on the national airline, which eliminates the possibility of using other cheaper carriers to reduce price.
Meanwhile, other airlines serving the country are unlikely to introduce straight flights into the Brac since, without the required baggage screening, straight flights back into the United States are not allowed.
The Brac is still basically stuck in the same between a rock and a hard place position it was in the 1980s: it needs more rooms to warrant better flight schedules and cannot get better flight schedules without more rooms.
There is one two-part solution to prevent the tourism economy on the Island from a serious downswing: One part is that the Government and the CAL Board of Directors will make a commitment to find a better schedule for Cayman Brac.
The other is that businessmen, local or foreign, with a love and appreciation of the Island will invest in the Brac and build up room numbers.
Another source of improving the Brac's economy is through the promotion of domestic tourism - an initiative that is now under serious consideration by the Sister Islands District Administration.
These two things must happen simultaneously. Investors will be wary if there is the possibility their rooms will remain empty, whereas an assurance of flights may induce investors to make the financial plunge.
The other essential factor is the promotion of the Sister Islands as a separate and desirable destination. All too often, visitors think of the Cayman Islands as Grand Cayman, and this image does nothing to attract tourists looking for that small-island experience offered on the Brac and Little Cayman.
If the Government is serious about helping Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, a significant investment in promoting this idyllic destination within the Cayman Islands on the whole as a destination, this would go a long way in securing a future for these exceptional Sisters.
