Travel Weekly Digital Edition

The Mandarin Oriental at Barefoot Beach is scheduled to open in 2009.
Sustainable tourism at forefront in Caymans
By Melanie Reffes

Increases in air arrivals, new laws aimed at protecting the environment and the promotion of new tourist attractions is keeping the Cayman Islands busy.

Air arrivals through April totaled 113,822, an 8.3% increase over last year, according to statistics compiled by the Caribbean Tourism Organization.

To meet the challenges of increased arrivals and emerging environmental concerns, the National Tourism Policy is being updated and new marine conservation laws are in place to protect coral reefs.

“Our existing environmental legislation dates back to the 1970s, and in some instances, these laws do not address present challenges,” said Charles Clifford, the Cayman Islands’ minister of tourism, environment, investment and commerce.

Clifford was addressing delegates at the Sustainable Tourism Conference held in Grand Cayman last month.

Created after Hurricane Ivan in 2004, the National Tourism Policy is under review by the public and private sectors with a final report to be issued in September.

“Sustainable tourism development will

be the bedrock of the policy to address concerns, such as how we present a distinctive Caymanian experience,” Clifford said.

One of those distinctive experiences can be found at Boatswain’s Beach, a marine park that is an expansion of the Cayman Turtle Farm.

Also new is the Mission House in Bod-den Town, which tells the story of Caymanian religious and social history. The Mission House is also an example of traditional Cayman Islands architecture.

Opening next year in Grand Cayman’s Lower Valley is the Agri-Tourism Project, which will serve as an education center for the preservation, promotion and development of agriculture as well as the craft and culinary heritage of the Cayman Islands.

Other Grand Cayman developments in the works include Camana Bay in West Bay, which will open this fall with office space, cinemas, shops, restaurants and apartments overlooking the water.

Resorts on the drawing board include the 114-room Mandarin Oriental on Barefoot Beach, scheduled to open in 2009, and the Caribbean Club on Seven Mile Beach, which will reopen later this year after extensive renovations.

Also on Seven Mile Beach but still not fully operational, the Hyatt Regency Grand Cayman remains stuck in legal red tape following Hurricane Ivan damage from 2004.

T W PHO TO B Y GAY NAGLE M YERS

Meanwhile, the resort’s Beach Suites complex has been open for some time.

“I am a bit frustrated by the situation, but there is very little the government can do because it is an insurance matter,” Clifford said.

Elite Island Resorts formed a marketing partnership with the 130-room Sunshine Suites, across from the Westin Casuarina Resort & Spa on Seven Mile Beach.

Cruise arrivals through April stood at 853,600, which represented 70% of all

visitors to the Cayman Islands and was 3% above the numbers for the same period in 2006.

To ease congestion in George Town when several cruise ships are at anchor at the same time, the government enacted the Go East project.

The project is described as a cruise management tool that steers visitors to attractions such as Pedro Castle and the Queen Elizabeth Botanical Park on the less-popu-lated east side of the island.

Cayman Airways began nonstop service from New York’s Kennedy Airport on June 24 and may add flights for the winter season, according to Clifford.

Hyatt’s Beach Suites complex in Grand Cayman is open, but the Hyatt Regency Grand Cayman remains closed. The resort has been shuttered since Hurricane Ivan struck in 2004.