In this context, Travel2latam spoke with Rosa Harris, Director of Tourism of the Cayman Islands.
How do you feel about the participation of the Cayman Islands in an event as important as SOTIC?
For me discussing important issues and the state of the tourism industry in the Caribbean is essential so that we can hear what is happening, I said this through an excellent panel discussion on the film industries that are touched not only by tourism but also by many industries, because a movie filmed in the destination impacts and inspires people to travel to the place where that movie was filmed. Additionally, it is a great opportunity to come together to share ideas, share best practices, see the success of other countries and see how they do it. This is an important meeting for the Caribbean Tourism Organization and new plans will surely come together for the near future of the industry.
What can you tell us about those plans?
The new plans together for the near future for our region present the need to traverse multiple definitions knowing how to capture audiences who have a warm climate destination in mind through research that identifies key areas. Those are some of the top priorities of where we see our focus going, plus we just hired Miss Donna, the new Secretary General and CEO for the Caribbean who will be looking at the value we offer our team members and how we can expand the services we currently offer to our memberships.
How have the results been lately?
We opened completely without restrictions coming from Covid and we have had a full year of measurement compared to our 2019, in our last full year of visitor volume and tourist activity, we have 83% of our 2019 sales levels and we have a number of Key infrastructure projects are underway, the largest being the refurbishment of our airport and the extension of our runway at Owen Roberts International Airport in Grand Cayman, so it is very important to continue welcoming visitors and returning residents. to the destination market.
What is the market that has the best opportunities at the moment?
In America, Brazil and Mexico, but we are looking to add a few more destinations within South America and we are also looking to deepen our promotions in Europe, but Latin America is our top priority, followed by Europe because right now we are number one for you; followed by Canada and then the United Kingdom. In Ireland, however, our business is very seasonal, so we see a very drastic drop in the summer, and the hope of the fall season is to flatten that seasonality with the Latin market having opposite seasons and more opportunities to travel in the periods when we want more business.
What is the situation of meeting tourism?
The meetings and incentives business right now is a very solid foundation for our larger properties. Plus, it's a great destination for weddings and honeymoons, there is so much natural beauty, historic sites and gorgeous locations for honeymoon events and just spending time after you get married. So we have done several things this year, and in December we will have the Coterie Retreat, which is a wedding summit, and also offers specialized training educational sessions and is an opportunity for our industry to network with the global industry in the wedding market. weddings and honeymoon.
What is the plan to participate in the following trade fairs that you have on the world map?
We will be at Routes World, an aviation conference, because we are expanding our airport and our runway, there will be conversations with airlines for new opportunities for the destination from Latin America and from Europe. And the number of commitments really is with a very busy schedule, but I know that it is a great time to be and to maintain confidence in travel and tourism, and also with our guests.