Pro-cruise advocates gave impassioned speeches to the Cayman Islands public, imploring them to support a referendum to build a cruise berthing facility.
Members of the Association of Cruise Tourism (ACT) spoke to an audience of about 130 local residents and cruise stakeholders last week. Their message was simple: cruise tourism will continue to decline without a permanent cruise pier.
Public Meeting Seeking Support for Cruise Pier
At the town hall meeting, they also cautioned people to discount “misinformation” about the environmental impacts of a cruise pier. Currently, cruise ship visitors come ashore by tender.
Ellio Solomon, Executive Program Manager of ACT, addressed the audience: “The numbers are dwindling. Cayman used to be in the top five destinations. Now we are down to 18. There are 3,000 families who depend on cruise tourism and if we fail to look out for them, we are going to have major problems.”
Another advocate for port construction is Deputy Premier and Minister of Tourism Kenneth Bryan. “This is not a joke, this is not a game. Your lives depend on it,” Bryan said. “We are running out of time.”
Joseph Woods, former Acting Director of the Port Authority, said cruise visitor numbers are down by more than 800,000 compared to 2018.
Former Premier McKeeva Bush also spoke at the meeting, encouraging residents to pressure lawmakers to ensure the cruise port referendum goes ahead later this year during the general election.
The referendum question asks: “Should the Cayman Islands develop cruise berthing infrastructure?”
The issue has been raised many times but has got nowhere due to concerns over environmental issues associated with dredging, and overall infrastructure costs. There remains opposition to constructing a cruise pier from some lawmakers and nonprofit CPR Cayman, which say it will bring major environmental impacts. The ACT has in the past accused CPR Cayman of “scare tactics.”
The Town Hall event was just one of a series of public meetings to discuss the issue. Another meeting took place this week at the William Allen McLaughlin Civic Centre in East End.
