May_BVC

50 51 partners; we look at the niche of how we com- plement them, rather than compete.We enjoy a very good relationship with all the small island nations and understand that the Caribbean region itself is recognized and people pick their vacation destination. Our job is to make sure they have our information. Jamaica is the closest English-speaking country to us and we’re look- ing at some of the synergies we share. Cruise destination being one commonality. “Air transportation with Cayman Airways is one of our tourism tools, and the start of our new airport facility, which accommodates five times more passenger throughput than our old facility, brings us up to level the playing field with our competition. The airport will be completed in December 2018. I believe that an investor looks at our growth and sees infrastructure being pro- vided as an opportunity to invest. From a tour- ism aspect, you see the accommodation to make entry and exit easier, and it leaves you with the Caymanian feel. That’s important.We’re an island whether you come here by ship or plane. And the easier we make both of those experiences, the better it is for the tourism product.We have a policy decision that we want to grow our cruise arrivals and we have a carrying capacity of 2.3 million. So, we’re now in the process of building a new cruise berthing facility and a new cargo port. Those go side by side with the new airport, so it’s a very exciting time for the country. “Our hotel room stock is being increased by MINISTRY OF DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION, TOURISMAND TRANSPORT - CAYMAN ISLANDS approximately 20 percent in the next two years. The current offering is an upper four or five star; we see opportunity for some 3 star, based on our sports tourism initiatives, but we’re very pleased with the brands that are here, and the stakeholders that work closely with the government.We certainly give them a lot of credit for the partnership of success we move forward with. “My Ministry looks at the tourism product from a retail philosophy. If we make it easy for a visitor to get here, and give them value for money, and deliver on what we promise, we believe we’ll develop a strong repeat guest. More than 55 percent of our guests are repeat visitors.We’re very pleased with that.We also view our tourism product as vertical, in that we have the ability to mar- ket to visitors, point them to the easiest access gateway to the island, provide airlift that balances and equates with the room stock, and then look at the island carrying capacity and make sure there are guest activities when they come.” BVM: Does the Ministry have its own tour- ism marketing division? Minister Kirkconnell: “We drive an initia- tive through the Ministry with the Depart- ment of Tourism. Partnership is one of the secrets to our success.When we look at a center of opportunity, we want to make sure it’s not only our marketing arm that’s going to saturate that area with information, but that our stakeholders have an opportunity