The document noted that the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism reported 1,520,372 passengers had visited Cayman during 2009, the lowest since 2001.

According to a separate report by the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association their average spend was $96.78 per passenger, a half-dollar under the average on-shore spend Caribbean-wide, which was $97.26 per passenger last year.

“The Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association and Cayman Islands Department of Tourism figures reported contradict one another with CIDOT only showing a 3 per cent downturn, while FCCA reported as much as a 30 per cent reduction from 2008 to 2009.  This is due to a significant oversight in the way CIDOT reports based on ship manifests, rather than actually counting how many passengers actually come ashore,” it read.

The statement went on to say that estimated losses for 2009 in the local cruise tourism economy equated to $24 million in cruise ship passenger spending plus $3.2 million to government revenues from a passenger head tax.

Guidelines

Shomari Scott, acting director of the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism told the Caymanian Compass that air and cruise arrival statistics were provided by the Cayman Islands Immigration Department and calculated according to Caribbean Tourism Organisation industry guidelines.

“Cruise arrival statistics in the Cayman Islands are derived from the number of passengers on board the cruise ships, as opposed to the number of passengers that actually disembark. Accordingly, a head tax is collected from all passengers and not just those that disembark. The same is true for all CTO member countries,” they said.

“Total cruise arrivals for January-December 2009 were 1,520,372, which amounts to a 2.1 per cent reduction over the previous calendar year.” 

Berthing

Last year, US Virgin Islands attracted the highest per-head spending of any cruise destination, with each passenger spending $193.22 – an injection of $304.3 million into the local economy. Conversely, Bahamas attracted the most visitors in the Caribbean but they only spent $83.93 on shore.

One of Cayman’s main problems, according to the CITA statement, was the lack of berthing facilities, which meant that passengers were spending less time on shore or even staying on the ship in Cayman compared to other destinations.

“When you see the number of passengers who are in port each day and compare it to the amount of visitors who appear on the dock -  it often appears to be significantly lower amount than the number reported on the manifests and what are recorded as ‘visitors’?”

“There is no public data available to prove how many passengers are tendering - but we may be literally missing the business of 50 per cent of the guests and 75 per cent of the crew, or more?” asked the CITA document.

Calculated

In response, Shomari Scott told the Caymanian Compass that the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism did not have a specific relationship with tender operators whereby specific cruise passenger statistics could be provided.

“This is because a single cruise passenger could disembark and embark more than once while the ship is in port (i.e. return to the cruise ship for lunch) which would make it very difficult for Immigration, cruise ship officials or the tender operators to accurately record the number of passenger that alight on any given day.”

The Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association, said the Department of Tourism, conduct an annual study along with Business Research and Economic Advisors to analyse the contribution of cruise tourism on the economies of a variety of destinations in the Caribbean, Central and South America and Mexico. The subsequent data shows that historically 90 per cent of passengers disembark at Cayman.

“The latest BREA report prepared in October 2009, which covers the period May 2008 to April 2009, corroborates this and states that 1,305,700 passengers disembarked during this period, which equates to approximately 90 per cent. The CIDOT uses this 90 per cent figure as the baseline to calculate cruise visitor expenditure. According to the FCCA, this disembarkation rate is one of the highest in the Caribbean,” added Mr. Scott.

Silver bullet

The CITA statement was signed by the president of the organisation, Stephen Broadbelt. It went on to state that a proper cruise berthing facility, whilst not a ‘silver bullet’, could allow Cayman to ‘purpose design and build into the port a comprehensive hotel and attraction experience that all guests would have to interact with or through before reaching their tours or shopping.’

“Many of these 1.5+ million cruise passengers are candidates to return as stay-over visitors and we are missing out on the opportunity to impress them,” it read.

Cayman had the fourth highest number of passenger visits and ranked sixth in direct cruise tourism amongst the 29 surveyed destinations, replied the Department of Tourism’s Shomari Scott.

“Notwithstanding the revenue derived from cruise ship passengers, the BREA report states that more than 50 per cent of cruise passengers said they would return for a land-based vacation in the Cayman Islands.

“The CIDOT is working hard to convert cruise passengers into stay-over visitors. Plans are in place to launch an incentive-based pilot programme in May 2010, which aims to encourage a minimum of 1 per cent of cruise ship passengers to return as stay-over guests in the next two years.

 “There is no doubt of the value of cruise tourism to the Cayman Islands economy and the CIDOT and Ministry of Tourism continue to work together in collaboration with CITA, Association for the Advancement of Cruise Tourism and other industry partners to ensure the ongoing success of the Cayman Islands cruise industry,” said Mr. Scott.

Attention

CITA’s statement concluded with a call for the government to devote as much attention to the tourism industry as it is to the financial sector ‘before it is too late’.

 “Cayman will ultimately fail to our competition if we do not have the political will and a dynamic, strategic and accountable plan for tourism as a whole. Our leadership at every level must fully acknowledge and support cruise tourism along with our tourism vision as a whole.

“As stated all along the Environmental Impact study for the cruise berthing facilities need to be completed as an integrated part of the design process and agreements between developers and contractors need to be executed,” it read.