Dear Sir,

Having just read the article regarding the Cayman government being insolvent, I thought I would put my two pennies worth in having both lived and worked in the Cayman Islands for two years.

The Cayman Islands certainly missed a trick over the years and perhaps should have followed the route taken by a former British colony: Hong Kong. As the Cayman Islands are a non-producer of any goods, and relies on banking and tourism; any downturn was always going to hit the islands hard, as reliance on all of those areas is a model for long term failure.

The Cayman Islands should have become a more business friendly place to come. Current rules on part Caymanian ownership of companies is a barrier to new businesses coming to the islands. The islands should have attempted to tempt other forms of industry, such as call centres, corporate headquarters, insurance, and investment groups to name a few. It is a stark fact that the current rate of development on the islands is pushing the Cayman Islands further down the list of tourist destinations, and once Cuba opens up, (which will be cheaper and certainly more tourist focused; and dare I say more interesting), tourist numbers will continue to decline.

With restrictive policies on inward investment, I fear the Cayman Islands have had their best days as the world has moved on. A couple of pretty beaches are not going to sustain the people of the Cayman Islands; nor will the continued restrictive policies aimed at foreigners looking to live and do business there.

If the Cayman Islands fail to be a business friendly place to invest, its decline is assured and with it will come the exit of its current foreign businesses and individual investors. The native population can only sell so much of their land for housing and with investors looking elsewhere at better opportunities, the value of real estate on the islands is also going to continue to fall.

Martin Henry