Should Cayman Brac be developed for cruise tourism?
Posted on Tue, 08/04/2009 - 17:03
Yes
31% (151 votes)
No
32% (155 votes)
Small ships only
36% (174 votes)
Total votes: 480
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Cruise ships
Cayman Brac needs to have a
Cayman Brac needs to have a Port developed suitable for cruise Tourism.
The only cruise adventure undertaken by tender almost drowned all the Tourists. So if Brackers want cruise ships they need a suitable Port.
Why should Cayman Brac be
Why should Cayman Brac be "developed". It's probably the only place that actually looks like the true "Cayman islands" anymore.
Why do we have to destroy everything we have for tourism? Why can't we just show people what they really came for?...... A natural looking island.
These peolple are lost when it comes to promoting an island....
To the final poster
To the final poster 9/7/09-15:03.
Like yur point. I would take he Prison and the Garbage and all our people too. You keep yourcriminals there! Sounds like a fair trade to me. Welcome back Kirkconnells, Fosters, Scotts, Boddens, Ryans, Tibbetts...
There's not really anything
There's not really anything to see there except a load of drunks beating their wives. There's not even enough to interest a cruiseship load of tourists on Grand Cayman let alone Brac. The best thing is to consolidate all the good stuff in one place and hide the bad stuff. So keep the boats in Grand Cayman, but work to improve the facilities and attractions. Get rid of the jail and the rubbish tip and move them to the Brac so they are out of the way. This is a fair exchange for us supporting their drinking habits by subsidizing their duty on goods.
I agree with the posters who
I agree with the posters who want the Brac to retain some it's culture and attraction. Also noted is the simple fact that government just can't seem to run anything. Almost every venture government and not just the Cayman Islands government gets involved in turns into a debacle of cost over-runs and general mismanagment. Why that is I'm not sure. But one of the main reasons is that unlike a private venture a government run one doesn't have to make a profit and is only accountable to itself. And a large group of muddle managers. That was not an spelling error.
Having private sector involvement and investment is a good idea as long as everything is out in the open and there are no backroom deals which benefit a sitting party and soon to be private individuals come an election. This has been the course of events too often with public-private partnership. Let companies and managers of companies do what they do best. Which is keep an eye on the bottom line.
Let government do what it does best.
What does it do best??
I'm searching for a recent example but can't find one.
I would indeed like to see
I would indeed like to see cruise ships docking in Cayman Brac in the future. Not 7 huge ships per day every day of the week...no no no! Please give us time to put together a plan and also a Sister Islands activities timetable. What do we have to offer cruise tourists for 6 hours? A true tropical island experience, Explore the caves, hike the nature trails, bluff climbing, Heritage House (visual arts and BCTC perfoming arts), traditional arts and crafts, best diving and snorkelling in the region, authentic Caymanian food in our restaurants, island tour on our busses, 1/2 ferry service to Little Cayman/Cayman Brac, Museums, and most importantly---meeting and chit-chatting with the local people "Brackers" who are friendly, welcoming and trusting. Grand Cayman has lost this magical feature that the Brac still has. The Cayman Islands does not mean Grand Cayman...this marketing approach must stop at this very moment...right now!!
Brac Cruise Passengers: From this first time experience---the majority of cruise passengers will book airtickets to return to the Brac for a family vacation. The Brac needs to marketed as a family destination. Brac reef will be full. The Alexander will be full. As domestic and international airservice to the Brac becomes the best in the region---the need for more hotels and private home rentals will quickly increase as will car rentals and restaurants. Welcome tourists to Church, mosque, temple and Kareeoke island style! I think future tourism in the Cayman Islands will depend on East End, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman. Cayman Brac and Little Cayman----DO NOT OVER PRICE yourselves as Grand Cayman has done.
------------------
Quincy Brown
If it is physically possible
If it is physically possible I say YES! It of course would not be on the scale of cruise tourism that the Grand Cayman has but it is definitely a possible source of income. There are many tourists who would appreciate the serenity of Cayman Brac. This idea like many others would not be profitable in the beginning but with innovation, trial and error and patience I think it could one of the best things to happen to the Cayman Brac economy.
Sure, why not, or are they
Sure, why not, or are they not a part of the Cayman Islands?
Cruise ships in the Brac
When are we going to stop talking about these crusie ships as if they were angels from heven for the Brac.
For one thing, there is not a thing for anyone on a cruise ship to do on Cayman Brac. It will do more harm then good for us to drop any amount of people over 100 on the Brac as they will just want to go back to the ship and get in the cool AC and have some nice food. Would someone tell me what you are going to do with 300 or more people here. are we going to pick them up in a school bus and hual them around the island to look at birds... Im sorry but our eco toursim does not go hand and hand with the type of folks that want to get on a cruise ship in the first place. If you look at the smaller cruise ships which take fewer people, these ships are about double the price of a regular cruise on a bigger ship for its aminitys as well as its food and wine. Do you think that someone who wants to sip wine on there ship deck is going to be amused by what is here in Cayman Brac.. We need to stop kidding ourselfs and look at what Cayman Brac is good for... DIVING< ROCK CLIMBING< NATURE TOURISM< and most important is a safe place to bring a family where they kids can run amuck without being kidnapped, robbed, or worse.
The true treasure of what Cayman Brac has is its water. Why do we not spend our time and effort on fixing why divers dont come here anymore.. Hello !!!!!! its simple Air service sucks, Its the only island in the world that has a international capable airport that has not profited from its tourism.. I mean really.. We have everything we need here to make it good for everyone, Fix the air system. Allow people to come straight from the states to Cayman Brac and watch it boom.
Divi had a lot of problems but do you think they would have closed if they had direct service to Cayman Brac.. NO. I know this for a fact. We were only starting to feel the effects of that resort being closed when Paloma hit. wait tell we feel that one compleatly. PLEASE stop blowing smoke at us and lets fix the troubles we have that are keeping us from growing. Everyone knows this is the problem why do we not fix it.
Cruise ships are a great idea, in say like 5 years when there are interesting little shops to shop in and nice little coffee shops to sit around it and transportation for 300 people.
Make the Cayman Brac airport international again. Keep the crime down. Keep the smiles that have always been here and Cayman Brackers will do the rest. Our tools have been taken away from us for long enough. Give us the tools we need to be what we were just a few short years ago when there were several hotels running 60% full. Three dive shops, and woops, here it is again, direct flights from Houston so we get our west coast people and Miami .... Its all we need..we will do the rest.
DIVI was beyond repair and I
DIVI was beyond repair and I know that for a fact.
On Divi
Divi's buildings were in bad shape, but Divi had more fundamental problems.
Divi's biggest problem was that the US Headquarters was sucking money out and not reinvesting a dime - this included capital investments (i.e. buildings). And Cayman let them get away with it for years with Hotel license violations.
Divi's next big problem was that they didn't know how to run proper accounting books. As such, they didn't know what was profitable, what wasn't and really where their money was going. That's also why no respectable business on the island would extend them credit. And Cayman did their part too, by being willing buyers of supposedly 'old' TV sets that happened to still be brand new in their boxes.
Third, Divi doesn't know how to run hotels. They're a timeshare company, and their hotels (Brac & Bonaire) have suffered for decades because Divi doesn't get the idea of regular advertising to bring in new business. The double-whammy is that both of these properties were also scuba diver resorts, and Divi didn't understand this business either.
Fourth, when Divi did occasionally get a good manager, 12 months later, their work permit wouldn't get renewed. Golly, it must be nice to vote out your boss if he actually makes you work. As a result, Divi suffered from more than their fare share of slackers. Cayman endorses a double standard, based on if the owner is foreign or Caymanian.
So as you can see, there were far more problems than merely airlft and worn out buildings: everyone ...Divi and Cayman ... was exploiting the business for their own petty gain, and not surprisingly, it finally collapsed.
Its really a good thing that it closed, because it offers the opportunity for a clean slate redevelopment. However, if this is done by Divi, the same problems will return. What should happen is for the Government to sieze the land, pay off its lienholders, auction off the land, reimburse Divi the balance, and extend credit to the new developer.
Oh, and one other thing: if the Brac is actually going to have its tourism based on diving, it needs to have an operational recompression chamber. Back before the decline, between Brac & Little, there were around 25 divers/year who needed DCS treatment, so there's enough "business" to justify it.
D.T.
I knew all that but just
I knew all that but just wanted to address the fact that Cayman Airways had nothing to do with their collape. It just pissed me off that they were blaming Cayman Airways for what was their own internal problems. The only people that don't know DIVI problems are people that came to Cayman recently.
I also know for fact that the employees didn't vote out all of the managers. Working for DIVI was demoralising for everyone
SUCCESS - ONLY WITH PRIVATE
SUCCESS - ONLY WITH PRIVATE VENTURE,
Government has proven that it cannot successfully implement cruise tourism on Cayman Brac.
The only way cruise tourism would stand a chance is if the successful businessmen of Cayman Brac (Mr. Moses, Mr. Billy, Mr. Burnard, Mr. Steve, Mr. Garston, Mr. Dervyn, Cpt Charles, Cpt Eldon and Mr. Linton) all got together and did it as a private venture. If cruise tourism was a viable, profitable venture some combination of these gentlemen would already be doing it!
Sign Me,
Government is not the answer to everything!!!!
The people and businesses of
The people and businesses of the Brac have a chance to control the style, quality and intimacy of their cruise business and in the process show Grand Cayman another way that it can be approached.
If they keep the Government out of it they can manage it for and by themselves. Think of this as an opportunity to make new friends, don't turn into George Town please, I would resist having duty free stores of any kind and concentrate on offering Brac make souvenirs, gifts and experiences to the visitors. They should keep it small, personal and restricted to a few ships that are more in sink with their culture.
Since most ships try to milk every penny that they can from their passengers with on board advertising promotions, commissions from big duty free stores and earnings from onshore excursions, most will not go to the Brac, They can't make enough money from the visit. But if there are a few ships looking for a real old fashion Caribbean experience then the Brac will be right up their alley. It doesn’t matter if only a few special ships stop by every week or two. That just makes the Brac experience unique and memorable and the visitors will spend enough to support the local economy and come back to stay. If the Brac gets concerned about making all the money that it can from the cruise business, than it will, like George Town become an artificial replication of Key West.
I would caution the people of the Brac to really have control and to develop long term planning and strong restrictions so that their island doesn’t gradually get taken over by commercial interests.
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